A Bed Of Roses
by Armbar Nation
Summary: Story 4 of 4 and sequel to Taking Control. Stephanie McMahon has finally managed to deal with her mental health issues and fix her marriage. All of her problems are behind her now, or so she thinks.
1. Chapter 1

Over an hour of preparation had led up to this point. Stephanie McMahon was finally happy with her hair, her make up and her light grey suit. She was ready to return to work. Due to her serious mental health issues and the lengthy recovery process that was in truth still not complete in addition to her pregnancy and then taking further leave to be with baby Luisa it had been well over a year since Stephanie had been into WWE headquarters.

That was still to come but right now the next thing to do was present herself to her husband. She walked down the stairs and then into the living room and she was glad to see that Luisa was happily feeding from the bottle that Anna, their nanny was holding. Anna was a real star and all of the kids loved her. Stephanie had to admit that Paul had definitely been right to hire her. It had been difficult to see someone else looking after her kids as first but without the help Stephanie's recovery from illness coupled with her pregnancy would have been so much harder.

Stephanie's three elder daughters and her husband had all turned to look at her as she entered the room, interrupted their final preparations to leave for the school run. They girls all looked so adorable with their winter coats and hats on as Paul asked them, "Do we think mommy looks great?"

There came a loud chorus of positive responses and the youngest of the girls ran over for a hug. Stephanie picked her daughter up and held her as she was asked the question, "Mommy going back to work?"

"Yes sweetheart," Stephanie kissed Vaughn. "Mommy is going back to work. That means you have to be a good girl for Anna after school until mommy comes home. Can you do that?" It would only be Stephanie who came home from the office as Paul would be away for that night's Raw.

"Yes," Vaughn assured her. Stephanie pretended to ask the next question in secret but everyone else heard it as intended, "Do we think the others will be good too?" Stephanie watched Paul try not to laugh at the response.

"Not Lulu." Vaughn would only refer to her baby sister in this way, flatly refusing even attempt to say her name correctly. Apparently crying was viewed as not being good.

With a look at his watch Paul urged, "Right, everyone in the car but no running." Stephanie set Vaughn down on the floor and the girls studiously walked from the room carrying their school bags. As soon as they were out of the room and out of sight frantic running footsteps could be heard along the hallway as the girls raced to be first to the car. Paul laughed again as he looked at his wife who was heading over to say goodbye to Luisa, "I bet you were just like that."

Stephanie bent down and kissed her baby daughter in Anna's arms, "I'll miss you today baby girl." Then she spoke to Anna, "Call me if anything happens." Today would be the first time Stephanie had been apart from the newest addition to the family aside from her trips to her therapy sessions and marriage counselling. At least the second of those was a thing of the past now.

"Don't worry Steph, we'll be fine. Won't we Lulu?" Vaughn's name for her baby sister was starting to stick already.

Stephanie smiled at Anna and then walked back over to Paul and beamed at him as she responded to his previous statement. "I was not. I've always been a good girl."

Paul chuckled as he followed his wife out of the living room, giving a wave to Anna as he did so. "If I've ever heard a statement further from the truth than that I don't remember it," he said playfully.

Before walking through the already opened front door Stephanie turned around and admitted, "I'm nervous Paul and I don't like leaving Luisa."

"You'll be fine and Lu will definitely be fine with Anna," Paul said as he gave his wife a kiss. "Don't stress yourself okay?" He finished with another kiss which his wife returned for a few seconds with a soft moan of pleasure before they were interrupted by their eldest daughter's sarcasm from the doorway.

"Shall we just stay off school?"

Stephanie laughed as she turned and walked out of the door and directed her question to Paul, "I suppose you're going to try and say that comes from me too huh?"

After collecting his case from near the bottom of the stairs Paul walked out of the house and closed the door behind him with another laugh, "No the sarcasm is me, I'll have to admit to that." He walked to the car with a smile on his face. This was how things used to be before Stephanie's mom had died. Life had been hell for the whole family for various reasons since then but now thanks to their marriage counselling and Stephanie's therapy they had finally succeeded in putting it all behind them.

* * *

Paul knew that the first day back at work would be very stressful for his wife after such a lengthy absence so for that reason he had instructed everyone to go about their business as usual and not to make a fuss over Stephanie's return. He had also worked a lot of overtime the previous couple of weeks to make sure that Stephanie returned to very little backlog of work.

They chatted away happily as they entered the building and walked through the lobby and entered the elevator. As the elevator rose Paul said, "Well it's a lot later than expected but you're President now Steph."

Paul was secretly pleased to see his statement get the reaction he hoped for as wife cringed. "No Paul, Chairwoman. President is just... no."

"Okay then," he smiled. "Chairwoman it is. Now remember if anything gets too much today come find me and I'll help you or take you home, whatever you need. Don't push yourself too hard too early. You know what your therapist told you about stress setting you back." He could not help imagining what kind of reaction saying that would have delivered the last time Stephanie had been in this building. Certainly it would have been a lot different to the one he got now as the elevator doors slid open.

"Thank you," Stephanie said. "I'm sure I'll be okay but if not I'll let you know."

The top floor was quiet as they walked along the hallway past the small office that had once belonged to Nikki Bella. Stephanie glanced through the window and saw that it now belonged to a young guy who she had never seen before. There had been a lot of changes while she had been away from the place that was for sure but as of now she was the Chairwoman of WWE and Paul was CEO. Someone had been brought in to fill Paul's old position, that would be someone else to get to know and get used to working with.

Paul had opted to return to his old office today, now that he was no longer Acting Chairman and as they reached it he reminded his wife again, "Come find me if you need me."

Stephanie reached up and gave him a delicate kiss on the cheek. "I will. Love you."

With that Stephanie walked on towards her own office, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly as she did so. It was very important to try not to get too stressed today. As she walked into the outer office she was greeted by someone familiar to her. "Good morning Mrs. McMahon. Welcome back."

Stephanie gave one of her kindest smiles which was very refreshing to the woman sitting behind the secretary's desk. "Hi Lucy, great to see you, and great to be back."

* * *

_Right, now that that's done I've got a lot to get off my chest. Where should I start? There are so many things I've had to suffer through. So much indignity I've had to suffer. I guess we'll start with with the first one that springs to mind but don't worry we're going to cover everything, every last thing I suffered. Okay, here we go._

_I managed to hide my contempt and total disgust as I looked at the fat middle aged woman with greasy black hair sitting opposite me across the table in the corner of the diner that I had applied for a job in. The place was a shit hole and the job was obviously beneath me but I the needed work, well I needed the money anyway. I had spent almost everything that I managed to draw out from the bank when I ran from WWE on my new identity. I was now Gemma Bradley, I guess I still am. Let's be honest I'll never be Nikki Bella again will I? Anyway I was was left with this, a god damned minimum wage job in a diner. It was embarrassing and it was unfair. I forced myself to listen to the woman as her irritating deep voice droned, "It's minimum wage and I'm not promising how many hours I can give you but if you want the job it's yours."_

_At least I'm a good actor. As I considered whether doing the five years in prison might have actually been a better option than this I managed a smile which must have looked genuine, "Thank you, I'll take it. When do I start?" I watched as a smile appeared on the ugly fat bitches face as she said, "Right now. After I get you your uniform you can change and then there's a toilet backing up in the women's bathroom, you can get on that."_

_Somehow I managed not to let the horror appear on my face as I felt sick. I said, "Right," but I don't understand how I resisted the temptation to tell her to fuck herself. My__ new boss lumbered to her feet and told me to follow her. We went in the back and into the shitty little staff room. She found a uniform that was close to my size and left so that I could change into it._

_I hated that uniform, why the fuck they thought that it looked good I'll never know. It was a hideous shade of yellow and the design was awful. I hated every second that I had to wear it. At least there was no mirror in there for me to see myself in it. I think I may have been tempted to kill myself then and there with the shame of it if I had. I walked back out into the diner and my so called boss __screamed across the diner from behind the counter at another staff member, "Hey! Show Gemma here where the cleaning supplies are."_

_I mumbled under my breath, "Why me? What the fuck did I do to deserve this?" Another person with greasy hair approached me. I have no idea what was wrong with taking a shower before going to work but apparently something was for these people. This time it was a guy who looked like he was about twenty eight feet tall but he still probably weighed the same as me. I've never seen anyone so disgustingly thin in my life and his skin was pale. I found out later that his name was Ryan and I hated that sarcastic, patronising son of a bitch with a passion. That was all to come later though. He told me to follow him and I did, trying not to look like I'd rather drink my own piss._

_He led me across the diner which hardly had any customers in it even though it was early and people should have been in to eat breakfast. Mind you who would want to eat in a place like that? Anyway I was led across the diner and through the door to the bathrooms. The guy handed me the key to the door with staff only printed on it. It was pretty obvious that it was staff only, it was locked for fuck's sake. Who else would be able to go in there? This was evidently where they stored cleaning supplies and the guy said, "Enjoy."_

_What I would have enjoyed was punching him in the face but sadly I couldn't do that. Ryan had wandered back to whatever pointless task he had to do and this left me to do mine, clean some shit out of a toilet. I already felt sick as I picked up a bucket full of cleaning supplied and walked into the women's bathroom. At least it was empty and at least there was a pair of rubber gloves to use. They were the same hideous yellow as my uniform and they looked ridiculous on someone like me but there was no way I was going to go near someone else's shit without them. _

_I followed the smell to the blocked toilet and when I looked into it I gagged. Some vile animal had jammed a bunch of toilet paper in there and it looked like someone else had proceeded to take a shit on top of it. I flushed it with water a few times hoping that it would go away but it didn't. I had to keep waiting for the water to go down before trying again and I thought that maybe I could just stand there doing that all day until it went away. It wasn't working so I realised that I was going to have to do something else and there was no plunger to use so I had to put my hand in and dig out the toilet paper. How I wasn't sick I will never know. It was the most disgusting and humiliating thing I had ever done in my life and I'll never forget it._

_And it was your fault Stephanie! Just because you didn't keep your stupid mouth shut! You think you're life is tough? It's a fucking bed of roses compared to mine you bitch!_


	2. Chapter 2

The door of Stephanie's office opened and she managed a tired smile as she saw her husband enter, a broad smile of his own on display as he said, "How's it going? I brought you a sandwich." He walked over and handed his wife the wrapped package containing a chicken salad sandwich.

Grateful for the interruption and happy to see her husband Stephanie took the sandwich from him and then rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes with two fingers of her left hand. "Thank you, I'm really hungry. It's going to take a lot to get used to this again. I'm tired already and I'm starting to get a headache. That board meeting seemed to go on forever but at least I'm up to date on everything now." Her therapist had warned her that this might happen after so much time away from work. The headache was being caused by either stress or anxiety, probably both. It was critical to make sure that she did not get too stressed and it was already apparent that this was going to prove even more difficult than she had anticipated. Thankfully Paul was here to help as he had been every step of the way. The truth was that she owed her life to him. Her illness and being manipulated by that sick little bitch Nikki had pushed her to attempting suicide but Paul had been there and had pulled her back from the brink and now they were a happy family once again. She would never forget what he had done for her and she loved him now more than she ever had before which was something that she would not have believed could be possible before her illness.

"Not quite everything." Paul sat down in front of the desk in one of the comfy leather chairs with a smile.

"What does that mean?" Stephanie was opening the package to begin work on her sandwich.

Hiding his concern from his wife was something that Paul had gotten to be good at in the past year. He was of course delighted with the progress that she was making with her recovery and that things were back on track with their marriage. There had been a time when he had been ready to divorce the woman he had loved for the last fifteen years but now that was behind them and he was certain that it was a terrible place that they would never return to.

What concerned him now was that returning to work could make Stephanie sick again if she pushed herself too hard and now here she was rubbing her nose with her fingers and she had frown lines on her forehead as she unwrapped her sandwich, clear indicators of stress. Maybe the news he was about to give her would help. It was not something that he had not personally enjoyed doing, frankly anything that involved Dwayne Johnson was not something that he enjoyed but he knew what this would mean to Stephanie and she was what mattered most to him.

"I've put something together that you're going to like," Paul said, very much looking forward to seeing the reaction from his wife.

With the sandwich finally opened Stephanie looked inside it. "Oh great chicken, that's perfect. You've put something together?"

Clearly there was more interest in the food than in what Paul had said but that would change quickly. Paul deliberately removed the smile from his face as he said in a very businesslike voice, "Yeah. As you know we now own TNA but we've kept it running as a separate organisation, until now."

Stephanie finished her first mouthful of sandwich before asking, "What do you mean? Until now?"

As he continued Paul could not keep the smile from returning to his face as he watched the reaction appear on his wife's face. First it was interest, then surprise and then something else, maybe sadness? Not what he had been hoping for but clearly the idea meant a lot to her, "I know how much it meant to you when we bought TNA and how much hard work you put into it. We all put a lot of work in but I know it meant more to you than the rest of us... with your mom and all. Anyway we've never actually mentioned owning TNA on any of our programming. I've arranged for that to be your honor. First to step on the battlefield and last to step off I think you said? Time to take that last step honey."

The sandwich now sat forgotten about on the desk as Stephanie bit her bottom lip and blinked rapidly trying to stop the tears that she could feel stinging her eyes as she thought about her mom and the fact that she had fulfilled the promise that she had made in her memory. After swallowing the lump in her throat all she could manage to quietly say was, "You've arranged what?"

"We're going to have you return to Raw and announce that we now own TNA and we're going to have Dwayne come down and supposedly sign the contract in the ring." Paul could see how much this news stunned his wife. Again it was not the happy reaction he had hoped for but he knew that this would be a good thing for Stephanie's recovery. Hopefully one of the final steps.

"You talked with Dwayne and planned this after what... what happened between us before?" Stephanie asked sceptically. "He kissed me Paul."

Despite the industry that he worked in and his on screen persona Paul was not a violent man however hearing his wife speak about another man kissing her made him want to go and knock Dwayne Johnson's lights out. There had been several times when he had been close to doing so but he had managed to restrain himself for the good of the company. Dwayne Johnson was one of his employees now after all. "I know he did Steph and believe me I hate the son of a bitch but you know that we had to sign him to a contract as part of the deal you agreed for us to buy TNA so he works for us and it is what it is. I've kept him on the TNA roster with an onscreen character as the owner so I've hardly seen the fucking guy to be honest. I try not to talk to him at all if I can help it but I wanted to do this for you. I know we talked about it and you said you did not intend to go back on TV again but it's only one segment."

Stephanie was dumbfounded. Her husband was such an amazing man and she loved him more than she could possibly put into words. After everything that had happened in their marriage, all of the sickness, all of the fights and a near divorce when Paul had thought that she intended to cheat on him with Dwayne Johnson he would still do this for her. She stood and walked around the desk and into the waiting arms of her husband who had also got back to his feet. "I don't know what to say Paul. This is such an amazing thing for you to do. I just don't know what to say." Again she felt the stinging sensation of tears filling her eyes.

After lifting her chin with his right hand Paul looked into her beautiful eyes and savoured the kiss that he planted on her lips. "Don't say anything, just enjoy it. I've set it up for a week from tonight. Raw is in New York so we won't even have to stay away from home, we can go straight back to the girls after the show."

"That sounds perfect honey." With her chin still being supported by her husbands large, powerful hand Stephanie had no choice but to look into his eyes, not that she wanted to look away. The love that she saw in them warmed her heart.

Paul beamed, "It will be, now eat your sandwich and take a pill for your headache. I have to get back to it."

Preferring to stay in her husband's arms Stephanie ignored his commands. "I have a headache after half a day in the office. How am I going to cope with Wrestlemania coming up so soon and then right after that you're away for a few days when we take Raw and Smackdown to England?" This was the reason she had insisted on returning now, this was the busiest time of the year for the company.

"I did tell you not to rush back honey," Paul said kindly but still his concern was evident.

Stephanie was beginning to think that Paul might have been right but he had been running the company for nearly a year without her and while he was definitely more than capable she could tell that the stress and over work were taking a toll on him lately. A new COO had been hired to fill Paul's old position but even with that it was getting too much for him. Stephanie knew her husband almost better than she knew herself. She could read between the lines of everything he said and every expression on his face and she saw the stress quite plainly despite the fact that he obviously thought he was hiding it from her. At this especially busy time for the company she felt that she had to step up and do her part to help him especially after everything he had done for her. "I know. I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm sorry for moaning about it," she said.

Paul watched with concern as his wife removed herself from his embrace and returned to her seat behind the desk. Her assurance that she would be fine did nothing to convince him that it was true. "I'll take you home if you need to go Steph. Stress is really bad for you, your therapist told you that, it can set off your anxiety. We can't let you get ill again."

"I'm fine, honestly. I'll see you later," Stephanie smiled, having noticed the almost untouched sandwich on the desk. She was ready to attack it.

"Okay then," Paul gave a smile of her own. He was not totally convinced but he had to trust her. "Just look forward to getting home and putting the girls to bed and then a glass of wine."

That sounded fantastic to Stephanie and as Paul made to leave the office she purred, "And an early night."

Paul turned around in the doorway with a slightly different kind of smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "Now that's something that I can look forward to." Both of them had smiles on their faces for the next few minutes as they thought about the evening to come. There was no way they could have known the terrible events that one of those stress headaches that Stephanie was already beginning to suffer with would indirectly cause.

* * *

_Are you still listening? You fucking better be because I've got a lot to talk about. Oh yeah, there's lots more shit that you caused me to go through and you're going to listen to all of it. All of it! So what's next?_

_I know, let's talk about where I was living shall we? I mean at the start when I got my new identity. I had a little money left but I knew that it wouldn't last long and I knew that finding a decent job would be hard. It actually turned out to be impossible as I've already said but I didn't know that then. __I knew that if I tried to rent a place of my own I would have to use most of the money I had left on a down payment and then what was I supposed to do? The only possessions I had were the suit, blouse, shoes, watch and so called engagement ring I was wearing when I ran from WWE._

_I pawned the watch and the ring to get more cash as I did with that necklace. That's right the necklace didn't get stolen in the locker room, I used it to pay the guy who got John taken care of for me. Actually for you not for me. I did that for you! I did it all for you and what fucking thanks did I get? Huh? You never even got me a replacement for that fucking necklace did you? That's something else you fucking lied to me about! Calm down Nikki, keep calm._

_In fact we'll talk about where I was living later. Talking about clothes has reminded me of something else, something else that I'll never forget. It made me so incredibly angry! I had sorted out somewhere to live easily enough on my second day on the run but I needed clothes. I spent the first night in a cheap hotel room and as I only had the one suit I suppose on the second day it looked a little crumpled and I didn't look my best as I had no make up or anything like that either._

_I went to buy myself some clothes and I walked into a store and the first thing I noticed was the fucking scrawny bitch who worked in there looking at me like I was a piece of shit, like I had no business even walking into the place. Who the fuck was she to look at me like that? I was tempted to go smash her face in right away but I sucked it up. It's impressive how well I controlled myself in the face of what I went through in those early days, in fact ever since I've been on the run. So much indignity, so much anger that I've had to control but I've done it and it's all going to be over soon. I guess you could say that I've lost it now though, right? Well fuck it, I need money. I need lots of money and this is the easiest way to get it. You better hope that it's easy anyway. If it's not then..._

_I'm getting side tracked from what I'm trying to talk about. I picked out some things and tried them on and I asked that bitch to help me and she actually made some snide comment at me about the way I looked! __Can you fucking believe it? Some... fucking... sales assistant making comments at me? At me?! I felt my blood boiling but somehow I managed not to hit her, not to beat her to death on the spot as tempting as it was. It's making me so angry now just thinking about it! I really would've loved to hit her and just keep hitting her until I had pounded her fucking head flat to the floor but somehow I sucked it up._

_I'm trying not to get angry, I'm really trying but I can't help it. Maybe we'll leave this for a while and pick it up later. I can't get angry, need to stay in control. Need to keep it together for two more days until this is all behind me. I'll come back later when I've calmed down._

_Things didn't have to be like this, it was supposed to be me and you. Me and you forever, I did keep telling you... It's a bit late now though isn't it? You really shouldn't have sold me out to Paul. That's what you did isn't it? Don't worry we're going to go through that too. I'm going to find out exactly why you stabbed me in the back before you get out of here. If you get out of here. Hey, what if I stab you in the back? That would be poetic wouldn't it?_

_I'll be back soon and we'll continue. We've got all night, I'm not calling Paul until tomorrow._


	3. Chapter 3

The first hint of a headache began to make itself known to Stephanie as the limo approached the arena. These headaches were becoming worryingly frequent already but she knew that she could not tell Paul. As soon as he found out he would make sure that she stayed home and away from work but she could not see him suffer under that pressure any more especially not with Wrestlemania and the trip to England so close. It needed to be all hands on deck during that period but maybe she could take time off again after Paul returned from England? Yes, that was a good idea. There were more immediate things to worry about right now as the limo was pulling into the parking garage of the arena.

Looking over at his wife Paul took in the tense expression on her face and the way she was nervously playing with her wedding ring and he let out a sigh that she did not seem to notice. The stress was getting to her, just as they had been warned that it might and it worried him. It left him in a very awkward position and he did not know what to do. He was concerned for Stephanie's health but also he really needed the help right now, she had been right about that. Less than a week from Wrestlemania and everything that went with it was not a time to be trying to do everything himself without even thinking about going to England the week after. The limo stopped in the parking garage and Paul spoke before Stephanie could open the door, "Steph when I get back from England I want you back home again. Please don't try to tell me that you're fine because I can see it. You're struggling and you've only been back to work for a week."

Hearing the concern in Paul's voice caused Stephanie to turn to him and tell him the truth. She had been told by her therapist not to keep things from her family if they tried to help her and it was advise that she had listened to. "I'm not fine Paul, you're right but I can manage. I can make it through two more weeks in the office. I can do it."

Paul could tell that Stephanie meant what she had said but of course he still worried. "Are you sure? I can always stay home and not go to England. I can..."

"No you can't, we both know that. Aside from the fact that you're critically involved in the biggest storyline that we have right now we both know that we can't leave someone else in charge over there. We just can't do that. We're still seriously lacking experience in management so this is the way it has to be honey. I feel so pathetic that a few days in the office effects me like this."

Apparently the limo driver must have thought that they were waiting for him to open the door as that was what happened at that moment, cutting the conversation off. Stephanie kissed her husband softly on the lips, "You know I'm right honey, it's a lot less than ideal but it's what we'll have to do so let's just do it. If I need to take time off after you get back I will."

With that Stephanie exited the limo into the parking garage and straightened her black pinstriped suit jacket. Paul climbed out after her and did the same with his dark blue jacket as he said, "You promise me that? I don't like this Steph, I have to be honest."

"I promise," Stephanie said, with a smile that managed to make appear as if it was not forced. "If I feel like this in two weeks I'll take time off again. Let's go do this shall we?"

Paul took his wife's hand in his as they walked into the arena and made an attempt to lighten the mood, "Alright but if things get worse you need to tell me. It must be good to be back though, right?"

"If anything I feel nervous," Stephanie admitted, remembering that she needed to be honest. "Nervous and a little stressed. I've not done this for so long and we employ people now that I've never even met. Plus Dwayne is here and there will be tension between you. I guess that is what is stressing me the most."

"There won't be tension Steph," Paul tried to convince her and failed. He might have been able to speak to Dwayne without excessive tension between them when he was by himself but with Stephanie also in the room and with everyone knowing how Dwayne felt about her who was he kidding? There would be a lot of tension. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all?

As they walked along a hallway Stephanie's voice sounded distant as she recalled, "I haven't seen him since that night in Boston. He took me back to my hotel in a cab after... what happened. During that cab ride was the first time I thought about..."

Knowing what she was going to say and that it would upset her Paul cut her off before she could get that far, "Don't Steph. Don't talk about it, don't even think about that night. Things are not like that now are they?"

"No." He felt Stephanie squeeze his hand tightly.

As they continued through the hallways there were smiles and greetings from the people they walked past. Everyone seemed pleased to see Stephanie especially considering how well she looked. She was truly back to her best, at least that was how it appeared. Next to approach them was Daniel Bryan, a large smile on his face as he greeted them both, "H, Steph it's great to see you back."

"I'm not back Daniel," Stephanie clarified with a smile. "It's just a one night thing but thank you."

"Daniel could you find Rock for me and have him come to the production office?" Paul asked.

Daniel nodded, "Sure. Uh... Steph... Brie and I still haven't heard anything from Nikki. Just so that you know."

Stephanie closed her eyes briefly, "I don't want to think about Nikki, I'm just glad that she's gone." A thought suddenly entered Stephanie's head and she asked, "Uh... Daniel? Nikki told me about Brie's illness. It does get easier, right? To cope I mean?" She had been hoping for some kind of reassurance but instead a quizzical expression appeared on Daniel's face.

"Brie's illness? What are you talking about?"

Now Stephanie wondered if Brie had been keeping it from Daniel and she had unintentionally just caused trouble between them as she floundered, "When they were teenagers... Nikki said... forget it Daniel, don't worry about it."

"Nikki told you Brie was the one who was sick? Nikki was the one who was sick, is that not obvious at this point?"

Paul held his wife's hand tightly as a strange look of confusion and hurt came to her face and she mumbled, "I guess it is. She even lied to me about that."

"They had a real tough time with her for a few years," Daniel continued. "She had mental problems and she was also mixing with the wrong people. It was only Brie being there for her that helped her and kept her under control and eventually got her taking her meds regularly. That's why Brie kind of went wild when Nikki and your dad got together and she started spending a lot of time with you. She thought that you would try to change Nikki and it would unbalance her or something and with Brie not being around enough Nikki would start to lose it again. She may have handled it wrong but I guess she was right. I'd have made her tell you the truth at the time but she didn't tell me about it until Nikki disappeared and we found out what she had done. She was desperate to go out searching for her. Sounds crazy but Nikki is her sister I guess. Anyway we haven't heard from her in a year so I guess she's gone for good."

"Right," Stephanie mumbled distantly.

Paul did not like the shocked expression on his wife's face at all so he quickly asked, "Daniel can you go find Rock now please?"

"Okay." With that Daniel headed off to find Dwayne Johnson as he had been asked. Paul and Stephanie continued their journey to the production office. The discussion and revelation about Nikki had started to make Stephanie's headache more prominent. Her anxiety was starting to kick off and the night had hardly even begun yet. There was still a discussion to have with Dwayne Johnson and then a segment to do in the ring in front of twelve thousand people in the live audience and millions of TV viewers.

"She's crazy and she's still out there somewhere," Stephanie mumbled as they walked along the hallway.

Paul closed his eyes briefly. This was all they needed, something else for Stephanie to get stressed about. "Don't worry about her," he said reassuringly. "She's on the run Steph, she's hardly likely to come near us is she? She'd end up inside before she knew what was happening."

* * *

_You're still exactly where I left you, that's very good. It would be a shame for this to get nasty, not this early anyway. I hope you're comfortable? I guess not huh? Whatever. Stop struggling and be quiet! That's better. Right let's continue shall we? There's still a lot I want to get through before I call Paul and things start to get serious. _

_Okay lets talk about where I was living when I first went on the run, after you sold me out and ruined my life. It wasn't a huge, expensive place like the one I should have been living in with Vince or the one you fucking live in. There were not luxuries, no nice furniture, no expansive kitchen, no massive garden, no huge TV's. In fact there was barely a functioning heating system. I didn't even have the place to myself. I had to rent a room in that shit hole from a fat son of a bitch called Greg. I'm sure he thought he would get lucky one day but I mean, my god. I would rather have taken a shit and then eaten it than go near that guy. It makes me sick to think about it._

_I had to rent his guest bedroom and the place was always cold, so cold. There was damp on one of the walls too. Can you imagine it? Someone like me, someone who should have all of the finer things in life living in a place like that and working in a diner. I had been right when I thought about it that first day in the diner, jail would have been better than the way I was living._

_I had not been there long when one evening I saw a cockroach in the corner of the room. It was then that I decided I had to get out, had to get away. I began saving up every cent I could just to have money to make a down payment on somewhere, anywhere of my own. Some days I even went without food just to save a few extra bucks towards getting out of that hole. Eventually I did it too, I got out of there and I managed to rent this place. You might think it's a dump and to a princess like you I'm sure it is but this is how I live now thanks to you. Well not for much longer, bitch! A day or two from now when I've got more money than I know what to do with it will be a different story._

_Anyway we'll come to that soon enough. It took what seemed like forever but eventually I had moved into this place but I was still working in that shitty diner. Believe me I tried to find something better but with no record of employment or references no one would touch me so I was stuck there. I would have taken any kind of office job imaginable but I just couldn't get one. _

_One night a few weeks ago I was working the late shift with that asshole Ryan I told you about before and would you believe it some customer asked him to put Raw on the TV they had in that place and of all things what did I see when the show started? I saw you! You were on there looking like you were having the time of your life with your precious Rocky. I'd love to know how you got that past Paul? All three of you in the ring! Maybe you can tell me later. Hey did you kiss him afterwards? Huh? What? I guess that's supposed to mean no? Shame, I could have told Paul about it tomorrow. Hey there's a thought! He doesn't know you kissed 'Rocky' before you were ill does he? That will be a surprise for him huh? I can't wait to tell him. Oh be quiet! Paul finding out you've always been a cheating bitch and that your sickness was just a convenient excuse is the least of your problems at this point wouldn't you say?_

_I'm getting side tracked again. Where was I? Oh yes, I was thinking that it should have been me that was on Raw not you and I must have said it aloud or mumbled it because that bastard Ryan laughed at me and said, "Keep dreaming, you need more than a pair of fake tits to get on TV."_

_I was so angry I had to go in the staff room for a few minutes to avoid hitting him. It was as I stood in that staff room shaking with anger and indignity that I guess I decided I had to do something. I couldn't live like that any more. All I could see was your smiling face as I had just seen it on the TV and it made me so mad. You had everything and I had nothing and it was not fair. I began to make a plan that night and you were the key to it. How ironic that after you've cost me everything I had twice I'm going to have more money than I've ever had in my life thanks to you._

_I have a confession to make. I lied to you about Brie being sick when we were teenagers. It wasn't Brie who was sick it was me, Brie was the one who kept me under control not the other way around. You already know don't you? I can see it in your eyes. Brie told you huh? Well guess what? Because some stupid bitch decided to stab me in the back and ruin my life and make me run away from everything I don't have my meds any more. Hasn't really worked out well for you has it Stephanie?_


	4. Chapter 4

Stephanie had now joined Paul in thinking that this was a bad idea. She sat in the production office drinking a bottle of water and her head was pounding as her heart began to race. Dwayne Johnson was about to walk in here and then who knew what would happen? Dwayne Johnson and herself were still the only two people who knew that she had kissed him before her illness had started. That was a secret that she intended to take to her grave. Somehow after everything she had not lost her marriage or her children and she would never risk doing so again. She reminded herself not to accidentally call him Rocky. That would piss Paul off for sure. It was at that moment that a thought came into Stephanie's head, "Paul, if Brie was trying to help Nikki then why did she stop speaking to her and stop their parents from speaking to her? I don't understand."

Paul considered this for a moment and then shrugged, "Maybe she hoped that Nikki would leave your dad and go running back to her family or something. Maybe she figured that Nikki was already pretty much out of her life so she had to gamble? Then maybe she thought that Nikki seemed happy with Vince and working with you so she backed down and hoped things would be okay? Who knows? I'm just guessing."

"I guess you could be right. If only Brie had told us." Her voice sounded distant to Paul and it worried him.

"She wouldn't do that would she? She would be afraid that you and Vince would run a mile from Nikki and she wouldn't want to do that to her sister would she?"

"No, of course not," Stephanie mumbled before her thoughts returned to the imminent arrival of Dwayne Johnson. She could see that her husband was not looking forward to this either but before she could say anything the door opened and there he was. Stephanie hated herself for it but she still felt that brief moment of attraction when she saw him walk in wearing a dark grey suit and a white shirt. She figured it was deliberate that Dwayne spoke to Paul first and the men shared a rather tense handshake. As she stood to great him Dwayne smiled, "Hi Steph, great to see you."

Making sure to offer a handshake instead of a hug and to keep her voice professional instead of over friendly Stephanie said, "Hey Dwayne, thanks for agreeing to do this. It means a lot to me." It felt strange to call him that. It was the man's name but it did not seem right to use it somehow. He was Rocky to her. Over the next few minutes Stephanie's headache faded as the conversation flowed unexpectedly freely between the three people in the room as the details of what would take place in the ring were talked over and confirmed. Now she was looking forward to getting out there in the ring for the first time in over fifteen months. It used to be one of the things she lived for but now it was virtually a thing of the past. Maybe when she well enough to get back to work full time and Luisa was a little older she could make a full return to TV. That was something to consider at a later date.

Later that night as ring announcer Lillian Garcia stood in the ring telling the live audience that Raw was about to go live Stephanie, Paul and Dwayne Johnson stood in the gorilla position. Paul wrapped an arm around his wife and pulled her to him and kissed her softly, "This is your moment. You deserve it. Enjoy it."

Stephanie smiled up at him, "Thank you." She wondered how much of that display of affection was for her and how much was for Dwayne's benefit. There was not time to find out as Paul was about to be introduced. No indication had been given to the fans that this was going to happen tonight so Paul would go to the ring alone and explain about TNA being purchased by WWE and then introduce Stephanie who would sign the contract on behalf of WWE as Chairwoman and Dwayne Johnson who would sign on behalf of TNA as owner. The ratings war would then be over for good as TNA would disappear from TV screens permanently.

Lillian Garcia introduced Triple H and he walked through the curtain. In just a few minutes Stephanie would follow him but first those few minutes had to go by. Dwayne turned to Stephanie and said quietly, "It's great to see you again princess."

Almost in a whisper Stephanie insisted, "Don't princess me Rocky. That's in the past now."

Dwayne smiled, "Then why did you just call me Rocky?"

"Don't do this. I could have lost my family twice already because of this. Stop talking to me like that, please." Stephanie forced herself to look away from him as she did not trust herself to gaze into his eyes. This was awful.

Seeming to admit defeat Dwayne stopped talking quietly and said, "Congrats on the new addition. Luisa, right? Beautiful name."

For a reason she did not understand Stephanie felt tears coming to her eyes, "Thank you. She's beautiful. My kids are my angels."

Dwayne said nothing further and soon Stephanie was introduced by Paul and she walked out into the arena to a warm reception. Apparently the Steph! chants had been forgotten about but she was happy with the reaction nevertheless.

She got in the ring and said a few words about how it was nice to be back and about the purchase of TNA and then introduced Dwayne Johnson who was booed thanks to his association with TNA. He joined Paul and Stephanie in the ring and spoke briefly about the ratings war and admitted that the better company had won. A fake contract had been specially prepared and both Stephanie and Dwayne's hands in turn were shown in close up as they signed above their names on the bottom of the contract.

Stephanie smiled as she shook hands with Dwayne and the segment was done. Just like that TNA was consigned to the history books. The show went to commercial which meant that there was no footage of Stephanie and Paul walking up the ramp behind Dwayne Johnson arm in arm. As they reached the top of the stage Paul went through the curtain and left Stephanie alone to look to the heavens and say a few private, tearful words to her mom.

When this was done she walked back through the curtain, the last to step off the battlefield as she had promised.

* * *

_Stop crying Stephanie. I know pepper spray doesn't last this long so it can't be that so why are you crying? You want sympathy from me? You think I care? Just shut up and listen. I'm trying to talk to you here damn it. Look if you keep crying your nose will block up and then you won't be able to breathe. Then I'm going to have to sit her and watch you die and I don't think either of us wants that do we? Huh? You're only going to die if Paul tries to fuck me around, I promise. If he doesn't come up with the money I'm going to have to cut your throat and leave you here then disappear again back to a life of misery. Hardly an ideal outcome for either of us is it?_

_Let's hope he doesn't think I'm stupid. People seem to think that and I don't understand why that is? I'm a very clever woman Steph, you know that right? What's that? You think I am? Well thank you. You're right, I am. When I put my mind to something I can come up with some amazing things._

_Look at how I almost took your families company out from under your noses. That was genius! Then at the last minute you ruined it you fucking bitch! Anyway we'll come back to that. What? I obviously can't understand you so be quiet and listen. I'm not going to tell you again. You see this knife, right? Look at it. Focus on it. Look at how sharp it is. You keep making noise I'll use it to give you something to make noise about!_

_That's right Steph, the whole thing was a plan from the start. You forced me to quit WWE to save Brie's job, that's what started it all. I love my sister. I love her so much and now I'm never going to see her again. I'm never going to see her again! It's all your fault you fucking bitch! All of it! Calm down Nikki. Calm down._

_Hey, think about it, if you hadn't made me quit just to spite John you wouldn't be here now. And the best part is our relationship was already over by then too. So basically you put yourself in this position and you did it for no reason. Funny, right? Well I think it is anyway. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that you want to tell me that it was only because you were sick and it wasn't really your fault. Well I call bullshit. This is all your fault and being sick is no excuse. Do you hear me making excuses now, telling you that I'm sick? No you don't._

_I'm getting side tracked again. You make me so angry, I can't think straight. That's not good, not now. Need to keep myself under control. Where was I again? Oh yes, your dad. You know the funny thing is I really got to love the old guy. To start with all I wanted was his money and if possible his company but he really was so kind to me and he was genuinely nice to live with. The sex wasn't great but he gave it what he had bless him. You don't want to hear about me fucking your dad though, right? Of course you don't._

_It was a plan all along Steph. I got him to convince you to work with me so that I could learn the basics of how to run the place. What you never found it strange that I suddenly wanted to stop being a wrestler and start in a corporate job? You're actually that stupid? I guess you are huh? Well I learned a lot from you but I also quickly realised that your problems were caused by your piss poor therapy. Where did Paul even find that clown? I knew that I had to manage you carefully as if you lost your shit and got committed or hurt yourself or something before I was in a position to take charge of the company my plan would be done because Vince would either stay on himself or give it to that bastard husband of yours._

_That's why I had John killed for you. You were going to lose it. You were going to spend all your time worrying about your stupid kids and about John so I dealt with it. Not that you appreciate it. Do you? Huh? Hey, there's a thought. Instead of bringing you here I could have brought one of your kids couldn't I? How much would you have paid to get little Vaughn back from Grandma Nikki? Actually I like it better this way. It was you who ruined my life not them so if I end up killing someone it really should be you. It's only fair._

_So I had John killed and I got away with it just like I'm going to get away with this but then I shot myself in the foot because I got stupid. I got stupid because I genuinely started to care about you. I was used to helping you when you were struggling but it really did start to hurt me to see you like that. So stupid. Why did I let myself start to feel like that about you, to get attached to you? _

_I figured it out you know, how you knew it was me I mean. I said something by mistake about John didn't I? It's the only way you could have figured it out. That's right isn't it? Nod your head! Yes, I thought so. Fuck. That's what I get for caring. I should have known you would stab me in the back and that's exactly what you did._

_Well as I said earlier I saw you on Raw and I began to plan. All I had to do was kidnap the princess and I could get all the money I'd ever need. But how? When? How would I possibly get the chance with that asshole husband of yours always around like he's your fucking shadow or something? Then it hit me, after Wrestlemania there's always a tour of England isn't there? I figured that you wouldn't both go and leave the kids, especially the baby. Luisa. Such an adorable name. Will be a shame if she has to grow up with no mom huh?_

_I knew when Paul would be in England so I planned out exactly what I would do and made a few calls and got myself a little help. We'll talk about that later. There's no harm in telling you all about my plan is there? It's not like you can do anything to stop me. _

_I drove all the way over in the shitty car I bought for next to nothing, well you saw that earlier didn't you? I watched your place and sure enough there you were, going about your business as usual. __I knew that this would be the best opportunity I would get so I had to make my move at the first decent opportunity I got. All l I had to do was wait for an opportunity to get my hands on you. I saw that you had a fucking nanny now, I thought she was going to be a big problem but you sorted that out for me this afternoon didn't you? Today was only the second day that I followed you, you know that? That's how stupid you are. You gave me the golden opportunity on only the second day._


	5. Chapter 5

Wrestlemania week had passed and Stephanie was pleasantly surprised by how little it had stressed her. After all she loved the wrestling business, it had always been her life and Wrestlemania week may be the busiest time of the year but it was also the most fun.

Now there was an altogether different prospect, it was Saturday and Paul was about to leave for England. Stephanie had been dreading this for weeks. They had paid Anna extra to stay at their house full time for the five days that Paul would be away for but even so this would be the first time Stephanie had been separated from her husband since she began her recovery. It saddened Stephanie that she needed full time help to look after her own kids but it was what it was. The stress of Paul's absence was getting to her before he had even left and looking after three children and a baby by herself would definitely be too much for her to handle.

Five more days in the office, that was what she kept telling herself. Five more days and this would all be over and she could take more time off. She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of her husband dragging his case down the stairs. This was it, he was about to leave. Stephanie hurried out of the living room and they both reached the bottom of the stairs at the same time. Fighting the urge to plead with Paul not to go Stephanie hugged him and said, "I'm going to miss you."

Holding his wife tightly Paul was tempted to say that he would stay home. She might think that she hid her emotions from him but he could read her like a book and it was obvious to him that she was struggling even before he left. He kissed her and said, "I'm going to miss you too. I'll call as often as I can and you have Anna here to help you. I want you to promise me that if you start getting headaches in the office you'll come home. Don't make yourself ill."

"How can I? With you away..."

"I don't care about work Steph. Promise me," Paul insisted.

"Okay, I promise."

Holding his wife even tighter to him Paul said, "I've got to go now honey, I'm already running late. I've said goodbye to the girls, they're all up in Aurora's room playing a game with Anna."

Stephanie realised that she had not even known where the girls had got to. She had been sitting on the couch in the living room lost in her own thoughts and worries. It really was a good thing that Anna was a single woman and therefore had offered no objection to moving in with her for a few days.

Paul and Stephanie shared a long kiss and then as he walked out of the front door, struggling to get his awkwardly large case through the frame he turned and said, "I love you, I'll see you in a few days."

"I love you too, I love you so much."

With that the door closed and Paul was gone. Stephanie stood in the hallway staring sadly at the door for almost a full minute, wishing her husband would come back through it, before she could force herself to turn away from it and head back into the living room to check on baby Luisa.

* * *

As the days passed they got tougher and tougher. Stephanie was stunned that she made it through the full day in the office on the Monday. Paul had called several times but as she watched Raw that night and saw her husband she found herself crying. She missed him at that moment more than she had ever missed him in her life. She wanted to hear his voice, to be held by him, to feel safe and he was thousands of miles away and by now sound asleep due to the time difference. She spent that night hugging his pillow just to have something next to her that smelled of her husband but the tears flowed freely as even this failed to comfort her. All she could think about was how much she missed her husband and then she began to think about how much she missed her mom too. She found herself sobbing out, "Oh mom. Why did you have to leave me?"

By Tuesday morning she was sleep deprived, feeling sick and had a stress headache even before leaving for the office. She realised that it was a bad idea to go in at all but foolishly convinced herself that maybe she would feel better when she got stuck into some work. Inevitably this was not the case and by lunchtime her head was pounding mercilessly despite the pain pills she had taken.

Realising that if the headache got much worse she would not be able to drive home safely Stephanie threw in the towel just before two pm both on making it through the day and on being back at work at all. She just could not do it, not yet. Enough was enough. She told her secretary, Lucy, that she was feeling ill and was heading home and to cancel any appointments for the rest of the week. Paul would have to deal with them when he returned to the office. It was unfair on him but she just could not go on and he had made her promise to go home if this happened.

As Stephanie walked out of the building and got into her car Nikki Bella watched from her own car parked further up the street. She worse a black hoodie and had the hood up to decrease the chances of someone randomly walking out of the building and unluckily recognising her. She was barely able to believe her eyes as she watched Stephanie backing her car out of her parking space. Nikki told herself angrily that it should be her car that was parked in that space right now. The amazing Mercedes that she used to own should be there and now here was parked across the street in this piece of shit. She had been sitting where she was since Stephanie's arrival just after eight thirty hoping to see exactly this. This could be the opportunity that she was waiting for. Where was Stephanie going at this time of the afternoon?

Nikki already had everything she needed in a bag on the passenger seat and she had made arrangements with her old friend for someone to help her with moving the money that she intended to demand for Stephanie's life through multiple accounts and eventually into an account overseas where it could not be touched by anyone in the US. It seemed stupid to think of this way but as she watched Stephanie's car she was telling herself that all she had to do now was kidnap the bitch. There was plenty that could go wrong but fuck it, it was worth the risk as they pay off and the life that would follow would be so much better than this insufferable hell.

This was not the time to consider the finer points of the plan, this was the time to concentrate on following Stephanie's car which was not as easy as it sounded in the busy early afternoon traffic. Soon Nikki began to hope that she was correct in her suspicion, could Stephanie really be heading home early? It appeared that it was possible and that would be perfect aside from one thing. There was a nanny living with her while Paul was away. Nikki knew this as she had been watching the house the previous day and had seen the nanny bringing the kids to and from school and her car had remained on the driveway over night. What could she do about the nanny? Kidnap her too? That seemed like a bad idea as managing two of them would be so much harder. Maybe just kill her? Nikki was not sure she could do that, kidnapping was one thing but murdering someone? She could murder Stephanie if it came to it, she did not doubt that as that bitch deserved it for what she had done but the nanny? No. The nanny was a big problem but not someone who could be killed. It was a tough one.

Soon Nikki realised that Stephanie was indeed driving home as she had made the same trip enough times herself and knew the route. Almost half an hour later she pulled her car over a few houses away from Stephanie and Paul's as Stephanie entered her driveway, parking next to the car that belonged to the nanny. Yes, the nanny was still there. Damn it. Watching Stephanie get out of her Mercedes and walk up to the front door Nikki pleaded aloud, "Come on Steph, just give the chance you bitch. Come on."

For almost a half hour Nikki sat there watching the house, getting more frustrated by the minute.

* * *

"Okay, time for me to go fetch the girls from school. Can I get you anything while I'm out?," Anna asked Stephanie kindly as she pulled on her coat. She liked the people she worked for a lot and she could see that right now Stephanie was struggling big time as she sat on the couch with her head in her hands. Even though she had taken more pills her head was obviously pounding. This was why she had agreed to move in for a few days, when she was in this state Stephanie was definitely not fit to take care of four children. It was bad enough leaving her with baby Luisa for a half hour while she fetched the other girls from school but at least she was asleep in her crib.

"No thanks Anna. I just need to try to relax and hope this headache clears up. It's really pounding," Stephanie said in reply, confirming what Anna had thought.

"When I get back you should go for a nap or something. I'll see you soon."

"Yeah," Stephanie mumbled.

With that Anna walked out of the living room and a few seconds later Stephanie heard the front door close quietly. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. The house was silent and it was soothing.

Outside in her car Nikki Bella was asking herself how she had been so stupid as she saw the nanny leave the house and get into her car. Of course she would go to collect the girls from school. This was the opportunity, possibly the only opportunity she would get. As the nanny backed her car out of the driveway and then drove right by her Nikki told herself aloud, "If you're doing this you need to do it now. You've got the time, she'll be gone at least half an hour. Do it Nikki. Fucking do it."

She reached over and removed the first item that was essential to her plan from the bag on the passenger seat and then picked up the bag and got out of the car without bothering to lock it. She would need to move it again very soon if this went as planned. Taking in a final deep breath for courage Nikki walked towards Stephanie's driveway, saying as she did so, "You'll wish you never sold me out Stephanie. Seriously bad move bitch."


	6. Chapter 6

The silence was ridiculously brief. It only seemed like a minute since Anna had left when the doorbell rang. Stephanie sighed in frustration before getting up from the couch. As she made her way to the door she thought that she should have just ignored it, at this time of day it was not going to be anyone that she actually wanted to see. No one even knew she was home aside from Anna and Lucy. By the time she thought about this she was most of the way to the door so she decided to open it and quickly get rid of whoever it was.

She opened the door and despite the fact that Nikki was wearing a hoodie Stephanie recognised her instantly and her heart leapt into her mouth but before could react and slam the door closed she felt something spray onto her face and immediately she was blinded, her face felt like it was burning and she was unable to cry out or even breathe properly as she collapsed to floor coughing uncontrollably as her eyes began to burn like nothing she had felt before in her life. What the hell was happening? Nikki Bella had shown up at her house and she was attacking her! Stephanie knew she was in serious trouble and she desperately needed help but she was already powerless.

The reason for this was that Nikki had just sprayed her in the face with pepper spray. Seeing that the spray had achieved the desired and expected results as Stephanie lay gasping for air and desperately trying to wipe her burning eyes Nikki moved quickly. She entered the house and closed the front door then quickly removed several pre prepared lengths of thick light blue cord from her bag. It was crucial to get Stephanie securely tied up as soon as possible while she was immobilised by the pepper spray and unable to resist. Having a fight with a woman who was bigger and more powerful than her was definitely not part of the plan.

All Stephanie could so was lie on the floor and cough and gasp for air as her eyes streamed. She tried to cry out for help but her throat felt as if it was contracting and she was hardly able to make a sound.

Quickly and without saying anything Nikki roughly yanked Stephanie's wrists behind her back and secured them as tightly as possible with a piece of the cord and then also tied her ankles together with another piece of the same cord. Stephanie made some gasping sounds which were presumably protests.

Nikki then thought that she may have a problem as Stephanie's dog came trotting over to her but the dog recognised her as her hood had fallen down and the animal only wanted attention. Still without saying anything as Stephanie continued gasping for air on the floor Nikki led the dog into the living room and this was when she saw baby Luisa sleeping in her crib in the corner of the room.

She walked over to the crib and looked inside and whispered to the sleeping child, "Who knows baby girl, maybe you'll see your mom again?" With that she walked out of the living room and closed the door, leaving the dog trapped inside. With a smile she crouched next to Stephanie who was still trying to gasp in air as best she could and was trying unsuccessfully to free her hands to rub at her burning, tear filled eyes.

"Hi Stephanie," Nikki began sweetly. "That's right, it's your step-mom Nikki. Oh no, actually that's not right any more is it? Well you'll wish it was you fucking bitch."

Terror took control of Stephanie but she was still hardly able to breathe and could not see anything through the tears that constantly filled her eyes. The burning was unbearable but she could not move to do anything about it. Yet again she tried to gasp out a cry for help but as before hardly any sound escaped her swollen throat. The effects of whatever Nikki had done to her were not wearing off at all.

"Now here's how this is going to work. You're going to do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you or I'm going to cut your throat and leave you to bleed to death. I'd prefer that not to happen as you're worth a lot of money to me so how about we work together on this Steph, huh? Who knows, if everything goes to plan you might be back home in a couple of days unharmed." Nikki used the same soothing voice that she had perfected on Stephanie long ago despite the threat that she was implying.

Stephanie's gasped protests continued as did Nikki's calm instructions, "I'm going to back my car up to the house and you're going to climb in the trunk. I'm going to move your car and take your phone. I'll leave this place exactly as I found it which will leave everyone spending the first few hours wondering where the hell you are instead of going to the police and telling them that you've been kidnapped. But don't worry they'll find out soon enough when we get to where we're going and as long as I get my money and you don't try to make things difficult I'll let you go. Now lie there and shut up, start making too much noise and things are going to get nasty."

With that Nikki opened the front door and used her bag to prevent it from closing and locking her out. She avoided running down the driveway and into the street as if anyone from a neighbouring house saw her it may look suspicious. Instead she walked calmly to her car, drove just past Stephanie's driveway and then backed all the way up it, stopping as close to the steps which led to the front door as she could get. She popped the trunk and then hurried back into the hallway.

Only a couple of minutes had elapsed since Stephanie had opened the door which meant that the pepper spray was still in full effect and would be for another few minutes at least. Stephanie still lay on the floor gasping for air although she had now rolled onto her back in her fruitless attempts to get her tightly bound hands free. Nikki closed the front door again and looked down at the pathetic sight in front of her.

"Stop struggling and listen to me," Nikki ordered forcefully. Stephanie did as ordered, still gasping for air and Nikki continued in her soothing tone, "Now remember what I said, you make this go wrong, you die. It's that simple Steph so stay here nice and quiet while I go look for your phone and your keys and anything else that might be useful."

With that Nikki headed off to do just that. She returned to the living room and closed the door to keep dog inside. The search for Stephanie's phone and keys was not difficult as they were sitting on the table. House and car keys were all there. Perfect. Now to get the sim out of the phone so that it could not be traced. For some reason Stephanie insisted on using one of those stupid iPhones which meant that something very thin was needed to poke into the hole to get the sim to pop out. Couldn't the stupid bitch just use a Samsung like anyone with a brain? God damn it!

Looking around the room Nikki began to get frustrated. "Come on Nikki," she urged herself, "You're wasting time. Think. Something very thin but long." Nothing in the living room appeared to fit the bill so she pocketed the keys and left the room with the phone in hand and once again closed the door to keep the dog in there.

Stephanie was still in the same state on the hallway floor. Although it was obvious no response would come Nikki asked, "How to get the sim out Steph? Huh?" Nikki thought about all of the rooms in the house as she cursed herself for not thinking of this sooner. She had planned everything but had forgotten this. She could always leave the phone behind but then the stupid nanny might not believe Stephanie had freaked out and gone AWOL. Nikki wanted the comfort zone that assumption would buy her. Then it came to her; the office. A staple could get the sim out if she straightened it out. If there was a stapler in there.

Quickly Nikki trotted along the hallway and opened the door to the office. As she walked in she could see dust on the furniture. No one had been in here for some time. She began opening drawers in the desk. "When I had a nice house like this I used to clean it at least. You don't appreciate what you've got Steph that's your problem," she mumbled and then she found what she needed. She clicked one staple out of the device and replaced it in the drawer before straightening the staple out and using it to get the sim out of the iPhone. When this was done she pocketed both the phone and the sim. "Finally. Right, no more time to fuck around. Move the car then get her out of here quickly."

Again Nikki trotted along the hallway, this time towards the front door. "No rest for the wicked, right?" She asked the gasping figure on the floor cheerfully on the way past. It was okay to close the door now as she had the keys.

A couple of minutes later Stephanie's Mercedes was hidden a few streets away. It was hardly going to be long before it was found but it would be long enough. Nikki walked calmly back to Stephanie's house safe in the knowledge that she had not used even half of the available time yet.

Upon opening the front door again Nikki noticed that Stephanie's gasping sounds were a lot less frantic. The pepper spray was beginning to wear off, at least the worst of it was. Nikki closed the door and cheerfully informed Stephanie, "I'll be right with you."

She made her way into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Bottled water, that was perfect. All of this racing around was thirsty work. Nikki returned to the hallway and tossed to cold bottle of water into her bag. That would hit the spot once she was on the road but first she had to get Stephanie into the waiting trunk. This could be the toughest part of the whole plan but she had it covered.

Calmly she crouched down to Stephanie and ordered, "Okay listen to me. I see the pepper spray is wearing off a little so it's time to get you out of here. This is how it's going to go down. I'm going to put a gag in your mouth now and then you're going to get in the trunk of my car and we're going for a drive. If I hear a sound from the trunk during that journey I'm going to pull the car over in the first quiet spot I find and I'm going to come back there and kill you and leave you at the side of the road and then I'll disappear again which will mean you died for no reason. Understood? Nod your head!"

Stephanie managed to gasp, "Nikki... please." Stephanie being able to speak was not part of the plan either. Luckily everything else was done by now.

"Right, time to shut you up." Nikki pulled her bag over to her and removed two pieces of cloth. One was light blue and smaller than the second black one. "Open your mouth," Nikki ordered. Immediately Stephanie did the opposite and clamped her mouth shut despite her shortness of breath she still felt. She had no intention of letting Nikki gag her if she could help it. Every second she could delay what was happening to her could be crucial. It was her only hope, the only way she could fight. She silently begged Anna to come home although she knew it was much too early for that.

The pathetic act of defiance was all she could do to fight Nikki who sighed and shook her head as she removed another item from the bag, a long kitchen knife. She touched the knife to Stephanie's cheek as her nostrils flared with her attempts to get enough air into her lungs without opening her mouth. Nikki made sure that Stephanie could feel the sharpness of the blade against her skin and kept her voice calm but menacing as she said, "Really Steph? You want to die in your own hallway? This is a very big, very sharp kitchen knife I'm holding here. You want the girls to come home and find their mom on the floor with her throat cut? I don't think either of us want that do we, so I'll tell you for a final time. Open your mouth. Now."

Terrified beyond belief but still unable to move or even to see anything through her involuntary tears Stephanie had no choice but to believe that Nikki would kill her as she said she would. Stephanie did as ordered with a final attempted protest, "Nikki..."

As soon as Stephanie opened her mouth to speak Nikki crammed the rolled up blue cloth into her mouth, filling it almost completely and leaving Stephanie unable to close it again as she moaned in protest. Quickly Nikki wrapped the second longer, thicker cloth around Stephanie's head and between her teeth and tied it in place as tightly as she could. This would keep the first piece of cloth securely in Stephanie's mouth and leave her virtually unable to make a sound, at least that was the plan Nikki had put together. She had tested it out on herself and it had seemed to work but now was the acid test.

"Scream Stephanie, make as much noise as you can," Nikki ordered but Stephanie was too busy trying to gasp in air through her nose to do as she was told and also she was still hoping to somehow stall for time.

Nikki watched Stephanie's nostrils flaring as she breathed as quickly as possible, trying to get enough air. She bit down on the black cloth between her teeth but did not make any attempt to obey the command she had been given. A soft moan of despair was all that came from her victim. After a few seconds Nikki threatened, "This is already the second time I've had to repeat myself. This is not going to end well for you if it's going to be like this. I'm losing patience very quickly. Scream! Now! Before I go bring that fucking baby out here and give you something to scream about!" She was delighted that when Stephanie quickly did as ordered the sound was indeed a very muffled and pathetic, "Hhhhmmmmm".

"Perfect," Nikki's tone had instantly returned to cheerful as she stood up, "Now get up. Quickly. We've got a journey ahead of us. There's a good girl."

Stephanie did not dare to disobey again. This woman was crazy. The way her voice kept changing indicated that as clearly as her actions plus she had a knife and she was threatening to hurt Luisa. In any event she was incredibly tightly bound, gagged and unable to see anything through the persistent tears in her eyes. What choice was there but to do as she was told? She struggled to her feet and Nikki held her from behind, pushing her forward towards the door, causing her to take awkward little jumps with her feet bound together.

"Stop," Nikki demanded as they reached the door. After looking outside to confirm the coast was clear she spoke again, "Right, we're going outside now so not a sound unless you want yourself and the baby to get hurt. I can kill you both before anyone gets up here to help you so think about that. Down the steps now Steph, good girl," Nikki calmly instructed as she returned to her position behind Stephanie as they went through the front door, "Quickly but be careful, wouldn't want you to get hurt," she added cruelly.

As they reached the car Nikki opened the already popped trunk and ordered, "We're at the car. In the trunk. Now. Make a sound I'll kill you, I swear to fucking Christ I'll do it." Stephanie got halfway in and Nikki shoved her the rest of the way, "Keep blinking your eyes and the tears will stop in a few minutes or so. Keep quiet and as I said before, you can live through this. It's up to you and that bastard husband of yours now."

Ignoring the quiet moan that Stephanie made into her gag as the trunk was slammed closed Nikki told herself not to rush, she still had plenty of time before the nanny came home. She walked back into the house again and packed her things back into her bag. Finally she opened the door to the living room and then smiled as she saw that the dog had gone to sleep on one of the couches. Some guard dog he was. The final check was complete and yes, the house now looked exactly as it had when she arrived. When the nanny arrived home she would assume that Stephanie had lost it and gone AWOL, leaving the baby home alone. She considered that it would not be much of a stretch of the imagination for Stephanie to do something like that, the bitch was crazy and everyone knew it.

It was time to get out of there. Nikki picked up her bag and was calmly walking out of the house when she considered something. Stephanie was only wearing suit pants and a blouse. If she really had gone missing would she not have taken her jacket or a coat? Nikki considered it and then remembered the evening that she had found the crazy bitch half frozen to death sitting in the garden in a t-shirt. No, it would look better if Stephanie supposedly had left her coat behind.

She walked outside and closed the door behind her. There was no sound coming from inside the trunk as she walked past it and got into the car. Knowing that it was vitally important to attract no attention to her car at any point during this journey Nikki drove carefully down the driveway and slowly away up the street as she opened the bottle of water and sighed with satisfaction as she swallowed the cool liquid. "You're too good Nikki. Just too good."

Nearly fifteen minutes went by before Anna returned home with the girls. Even if she had known to raise the alarm immediately Nikki and Stephanie were long gone.


	7. Chapter 7

"Remember girls, nice and quiet please when we go in," Anna kindly reminded the three children as they walked the small distance from her car to the front door, "Your mom has a headache and Lulu is asleep so no running around or shouting okay?"

"Can we watch TV straight away?" Aurora tried her luck.

"Usually I would say that you have to change first as you well know but if your mom is upstairs sleeping you can watch TV straight away just this once."

Vaughn bounced excitedly up the steps to the door, "Yay! Cartoons!"

"I'm choosing," Aurora began crossly before Anna chastised them both gently, "Shush now. That's too loud." She unlocked the door and led the children into the silent house. She had been afraid of the possibility of coming home to find Luisa crying and Stephanie unable to deal with her due to her own problems, whatever they were now. It had been very tempting to take the baby with her but the combination of the fact that she was settled and asleep and that it would offend Stephanie had made her decide against it. Hopefully Stephanie had taken her upstairs and they were both asleep by now. Anna was no expert on mental health issues but she had been told enough to know that all of Stephanie's problems resulted from the loss of her mother more than a year ago and the poor woman was plainly still struggling. It must have really hit her unbelievably hard.

The children took off their coats and handed them to Anna so that she could hang them up near the door without being asked. Anna smiled, most of the time these three were the sweetest and most well behaved girls she had ever worked with. Clearly Paul and Stephanie had been very good parents until Stephanie's problems had started. They still were good parents but it was just a lot tougher for them now.

"Lulu's asleep. Can we still watch TV?" Vaughn whispered from the doorway of the living room as Anna finished hanging her own coat. She walked swiftly over there, silently chastising Stephanie for going upstairs to sleep and leaving Luisa alone downstairs. What was she thinking? "You can put it on but very quietly."

Anna checked on Luisa who was still sound asleep and then she evicted the dog from the couch. He knew that he was not allowed on the furniture. Deciding that she really should check on Stephanie in case she needed a doctor Anna walked back into the hallway intending to head upstairs but at that moment her brain processed something. When she had parked her car on the driveway just now it had been empty. Stephanie's car was not there.

"My god Stephanie," she whispered. She had gone somewhere and left Luisa alone. Unless the car had been stolen of course. Anna made sure that this unlikely scenario was not the case by checking upstairs and sure enough Stephanie was gone. This was too much, anything could have happened to the baby. Stephanie was out of control and the only thing Anna could do was call Paul. Maybe he could talk some sense into his wife or even come home himself?

* * *

Paul was doing what he enjoyed most as the disaster unfolded thousands of miles away. It was evening in England and Smackdown was in progress. Producing a live show was always one of the highlights of his week and this had been no exception. The crowd was wild as they always were in England and the show was going well. Despite missing his family and worrying about Stephanie he had managed not to focus on it. He would be heading home the next day anyway and if Stephanie was still struggling she could take more time off work. He noticed his phone flashing on the desk in front of him so he picked it up to see who was calling. Anna. Why would she be calling? Not for anything good that was for sure. "I need to take this call," he announced to the rest of the guys in the office as he removed his headset and headed for the door and answered the call before voice mail could do the job for him.

"Anna? Everything okay?"

The voice sounded a little unsure on what to say, "Uh... sorry to call you when you're away Paul but it's Stephanie."

Paul closed his eyes, "What's happened? Are the headaches bad again?"

"Well yeah, she came home from the office early with a headache..."

Assuming that this was the entire problem Paul cut in, "Oh no. Is she okay now? Tell her to go to bed..."

Anna took her turn to cut in, "Paul just listen please. I left Stephanie and Luisa at home when I went to fetch the girls from school but when I came back Stephanie was gone. Her car is gone. She left Luisa home alone and I don't know where she is. I know you can't do much from England but maybe like, call her or something?"

As Anna had passed on the news Paul's heart sank. Really, they were going back there again after so long? After all of the therapy, all of the marriage counselling and all of the help and support that Paul had given her Stephanie had gone off the rails again after just a few days. It seemed that this was never going to end. "I'll call her now Anna. Are the girls okay?"

"Everyone's fine Paul, apart from Stephanie apparently. I'll let you go."

"Okay bye." Paul ended the call and immediately called Stephanie. "Fuck," he breathed as voice mail picked up without the phone ringing. She had gone missing and her phone was off. A potential disaster was unfolding. If this was anything like before she could be anywhere. Anna had said that she had taken her car and Paul would have made a bet that she was in no condition to drive. His heart began to beat faster and he exclaimed to the empty hallway, "Why Steph? I'm coming home tomorrow god damn it."

Further calls to family and friends turned up nothing but everyone promised to call him immediately if they heard anything from Stephanie. It would not help him to locate Stephanie as he had no clue where she could have gone but he decided to head home immediately. If nothing else he would be there for the girls when they started to ask questions. Who knew, Stephanie could show up back at home at any moment. The phone could ring at any second with Stephanie's name flashing at him. Soon Paul was at the airport and boarding the jet to head home, but head home to what? As the plane took to the air he found himself mumbling, "Come on Steph, don't do this. Just come home."

* * *

There was nothing in the world that Stephanie wanted more than to be safely at home but instead she was in the trunk of Nikki's car and she was terrified beyond words. Her head was pounding and she felt sick. She had no idea how long she had been lying in the trunk or where she was being taken. The trunk of the car was not separate as it is on some models, instead it was covered with a parcel shelf which meant that when Stephanie had risked trying to cry out through her gag when the car had been stopped, presumably at a red light or something similar Nikki had heard her and shouted a final warning about coming back there and inflicting a very painful death with a kitchen knife. Stephanie was in no doubt that Nikki was serious so since then she had tried to remain as quiet as possible.

Nikki had said that it was pepper spray that she had sprayed in her face. Thankfully it was now beginning to wear off and although her eyes still burned they were no longer full of tears. Breathing was now a little easier although it was still difficult with whatever Nikki had stuffed into her mouth leaving her nose as the only available option. These were the only small positives of what was the scariest situation that Stephanie had ever been in. How could this happen twice? Twice in her life she had been kidnapped. The first time she had managed to talk her way out of it but she was under no illusions, this was going to be an altogether different situation. Nikki Bella was sick and god only knew what her intentions were. She had been talking about Paul paying her money but what would happen when he did? Stephanie had no doubt that Paul would pay whatever Nikki demanded if she was not somehow rescued first but would Nikki really let her go when she got the money? She doubted it and that was the most terrifying thought of all. The likelihood was that she was not going to live through this.

The desperate attempts she had made to free her wrists had been fruitless and had only increased the pain that the rope or whatever it was caused as it bit into her skin. The realisation began to sink in that there were only three ways to come out of this and only two of them involved being alive. The only ways to survive would be if Paul paid the money and Nikki let her go which she had already decided was unlikely or the other way would be to wait until Nikki got to wherever she was going and then try to get her to take the gag out of her mouth so that they could talk. If she could at least talk to Nikki maybe there would be a chance but what could she say? What would possibly convince the psychotic woman to let her go? Offering money would not work as Nikki was demanding money already. Stephanie willed her mind to come up with something but all she got in return was the terrible pounding in her head. Thoughts of Paul and the girls came to her as she desperately tried to avoid crying. Not only would the noise enrage Nikki but it could also block her nose and leave her unable to breathe. Had she already seen her family for the last time? It really was likely to be true, she would never see any of them again. Despite her best attempts she began to cry hopelessly.

Nikki had not really expected Stephanie to remain silent throughout the journey as panic would inevitably take over but she had hoped that the repeated threats would do the job. Judging by the crying and struggling sounds coming from the trunk this was clearly not the case. Murdering Stephanie was not something that Nikki wanted to do but it was a better option than getting caught. If Stephanie really wanted to force her hand then she would do it. She could still call Paul and claim to have Stephanie alive as a hostage if in reality she was dead. She would be the one in control of the so called negotiations after all. Maybe giving Stephanie one more absolutely final warning would be fair?

Two minutes later Nikki saw an entrance to a dirt track at the side of the road. Presumably it led to some farmers fields or something but the important thing was that it would be deserted. She pulled the car into it and drove far enough from the road so that no passing motorists would be able to see her car through the trees. She parked the car but left the engine running just in case a quick escape was necessary for some reason. After removing the large kitchen knife from her bag she popped the trunk and walked slowly around to the back of the car. The pepper spray would have worn off by now and Stephanie would be able to see the knife quite clearly. The sight of it's huge blade would terrify her for sure. As Nikki opened the trunk Stephanie immediately started protesting desperately into her gag and wriggling around, exactly what she was not supposed to be doing. Her eyes were already wide with fear as she stared up at her captor before Nikki ordered, "Shut up!"

The order was obeyed but Stephanie continued to stare at Nikki with her wide, terrified eyes. Perfect. Nikki reverted to her soothing voice, "I didn't want to do this. I really didn't but I told you if you didn't stay quiet I would have to. I didn't want to kill you." She raised the knife so that Stephanie could see it and immediately she started attempting to scream, clearly believing Nikki that these were the final seconds of her life. Nikki leaned down and touched the knife to Stephanie's throat for a long moment with the pressure causing a mark to appear in the skin. The muffled noises now coming from Stephanie were clearly attempts to beg for her life. Theatrically Nikki closed her eyes as if trying to make a decision before sighing, "I'm too good to you Steph. That's been my problem all along honestly." She moved the knife so that the tip of it was touching Stephanie's nose, "Focus on this knife Stephanie. Focus on it."

Again the order was obeyed with more panicked moans and Stephanie's eyes crossed slightly as they focussed on the long blade that could so easily take her life from her. "Good," Nikki continued softly, "Now this is the absolute last time I'm going to warn you. If I hear one more sound of any kind from you before the end of this journey I will use this knife to cut your throat from ear to ear. Is that understood?"

The response was only a nod as Stephanie was now silent. "Good. Now, you've been doing a lot of struggling so let me check your wrists. Now! Roll over!" Stephanie did as she was told and Nikki checked that her wrists were still as tightly secured as they had been at the start of the journey. Some kind of bruising or rope burns had started to appear on Stephanie's wrists so Nikki chastised her, "You're only hurting yourself you silly girl. Your wrists are all bruised, that must be painful. Just stay still and things will be so much better. Now let me check your gag." Stephanie rolled over to lie on her back again and Nikki checked that the cloth was still secured just as tightly between her teeth and sure enough it was. Stephanie's struggling with it and attempting to bite her way through it had only succeeded in making the material damp.

"Hmmmmm mmmmmm!"

More pathetic protests and Stephanie's eyes were flicking from Nikki's own and then downwards, clearly attempting to indicate that she wanted Nikki to remove the gag. She wanted to talk. "You must be joking, right? That's staying in your mouth until we get home. Maybe then we'll see what happens but until then you lie there and shut the fuck up." With that the trunk was slammed shut and a few seconds later the car was moving again.

Despite the terrible situation she was in Stephanie felt relief washing over her even though the awful pounding in her head continued, if anything worse than ever. The pain was becoming unbearable and she knew it was a result of anxiety, hardly surprising as she had just been a second away from being killed before Nikki had a change of heart. She had felt the steel cutting into her throat and had been certain that she was about to die but no, she was still alive and staying alive was all that mattered until this ordeal came to an end. She had learned two things from the exchange; firstly Nikki was undoubtedly willing to kill her if she continued to make her angry and secondly they were heading to Nikki's home. Surely Nikki would not kill her in her own home? That would be stupid. It gave Stephanie a very slight lift and she decided to do as Nikki said and stop struggling as it was achieving nothing and had already almost gotten her killed. When they got to their destination hopefully things would improve. You can be home safely in a couple of days Nikki had said back in the hallway at home. Maybe it was really true.


	8. Chapter 8

Pleasingly there was no more noise from the trunk for the rest of the journey. Nikki was glad that the part of the plan which could have posed the most problems was now over as she backed her car up as close to the entrance to the building in which she had the ground floor apartment as possible. Before popping the trunk she picked up her bag from the passenger seat and took it into her apartment. The front door opened into the kitchen and Nikki tossed her bag onto the white tiled floor and then removed the kitchen knife from it. It had been important to come into the apartment before opening the trunk as she did not want to have to waste time unlocking the door with Stephanie out of the car. Someone seeing Stephanie now was the only thing that could realistically ruin the plan but there was never usually anyone around at this time of the evening.

After a final careful look around outside which confirmed that nobody was around Nikki opened the trunk and Stephanie immediately started moaning into her gag again as she looked up at her with her wide, terror filled eyes. Nikki showed her the knife again as she ordered, "Shut up. We're going inside now. All you have to do is be quiet and you won't get hurt. It's what we both want so can we agree on that?" Stephanie stopped her attempted protests and nodded her agreement. "There won't be any warnings Stephanie. Make a sound once you're out of that trunk and I kill you, plain and simple. Now move."

Awkwardly Stephanie sat up but she was then hauled the rest of the way out of the trunk by Nikki. "Fucking move. Don't take all day about it. Move. Now!" Stephanie nearly fell as her feet were almost numb due to the cord which was binding her ankles restricting the blood flow to them. She looked around desperately as Nikki pushed her from behind as she awkwardly hopped towards the door that Nikki had left open and gestured towards. There was no one, no help in sight and in just a few seconds she was pushed through the door into the apartment that apparently belonged to Nikki. She tripped as she went through the doorway and crashed to the tiled floor. Unable to put her hands out to cushion the fall she took the considerable impact on her right shoulder and the side of her head.

Seeing this happen Nikki figured that the blow to the head would daze Stephanie for a few moments so she went back outside, closed the trunk and locked the car. Still no one else was in sight. She was home free. Quickly she returned to the apartment and closed then locked and bolted the front door before pocketing the keys. Next her attention returned to Stephanie who had managed to sit up on the kitchen floor but was looking a little dazed from the blow to the head. "Well that was stupid wasn't it?" Nikki taunted, "How can you complain to me about hurting you when you do something like that?"

Stephanie glared back at Nikki but made no attempt to respond which was a disappointment. The money was the main objective of this exercise but the chance to taunt and threaten Stephanie until she was totally terrified and humiliated was a very nice bonus. Right now though there were things to do. "Do you need to use the bathroom? I don't want you pissing yourself and stinking my place up for the next two days." Stephanie nodded and began attempting to talk into her gag again.

"What? You're trying to tell me you need your mouth to piss? Stop moaning and get up. I'm going to untie your ankles but needless to say if you try to kick me or anything I'll have to kill you. We've been through this enough times by now, right?"

A few minutes later with Nikki's help Stephanie was relieved and then ordered to walk through a door and down a flight of stairs when led to a basement. Nikki followed behind her with the kitchen knife in one hand and her bag in the other. Stephanie was too scared to consider doing anything to defy Nikki and even if she did what could she possibly achieve? Her hands were still tied behind her back and she was still gagged. Nikki had locked and bolted the door to the apartment so escape would be impossible. Once again the only choice was to try not to make Nikki angry.

As she descended the stairs Stephanie saw a wooden chair, a mattress, a bunch of blankets and some pillows were almost the only contents of the basement. Clearly this was where Nikki intended to keep her for the two days that she kept talking about. "Sit on the chair," she was ordered. As she obeyed the command Stephanie hoped that and end was about to come her pain and suffering. Maybe Nikki would untie her hands or finally take the gag out of her mouth. That was the most important thing that needed to happen.

Instead things appeared to be about to get worse as Nikki was removing more lengths of cord from her bag. Stephanie now knew what was going to happen, she was going to be tied to the chair. Another wave of despair washed over her and she did the only thing she could, try to plead with Nikki to remove the gag. It was all that she could focus on. Her only hope was to talk to Nikki.

Now that they were in the apartment and in the basement Nikki did not seem to care so much about the noise that Stephanie was blaring into the cloth and instead set about tying her to the chair. The only thing she ordered was, "Sit still," as she carried on with what she was doing. First each of Stephanie's ankles was secured to the bottom of the chair's legs and then another cord was tied around each of her legs and the chair leg just below her knees. Then longer cords were tied over her lap and around under the seat of the chair, one just above her knees and one closer to her waist. This ensured that Stephanie was totally unable to get out of the chair and already these new cords were biting into her as viciously as the one around her wrists.

"Right, I guess I can untie your hands now if you like?" Nikki asked kindly. Stephanie nodded and was then warned, "Don't try to scratch me or take that out of your mouth." Again she nodded and Nikki began attempting to unite her wrists. It took some effort as the knot had been tied so tightly but finally Stephanie's hands were free. She obeyed Nikki's order and did not attempt to do anything with them, instead she tried to take the pain that came as blood began to circulate to them. As she brought them around to her front she saw the reason that she had been in so much pain, the skin had been rubbed raw by her attempts to struggle.

Nikki grabbed one of her hands and Stephanie realised that she had been taunting her with her supposed new freedom as she began to tightly tie her wrist to the arm of the chair. More desperate protests got her nowhere and soon both of her arms were tied down by the wrists and just below the elbows. Next even more cords were tied around her stomach and chest which ran around the back of the chair. The whole process had taken several minutes but when it was completed Stephanie was totally unable to move in any way and the pain was incredible. She began to cry and whimper into her gag but Nikki seemed not to notice as she stood back and admired her work with a sigh, "What a day huh? Jesus. I don't know about you but I need a rest. I'm going to get a drink and then we're going to have a chat about a few things. Sound good?" Stephanie hoped that this meant that she would be allowed to talk so she nodded eagerly. "Good girl. I've got a lot to talk about. I'll be back soon, make yourself comfortable or something." With that Nikki disappeared and Stephanie heard her climbing the stairs out of the basement. Despite now having the opportunity she was too tightly bound to even attempt to free herself.

* * *

What seemed like hours to Stephanie had gone by with Nikki sitting in front of her on a folding chair that she had brought down to the basement, playing with the kitchen knife and rambling on about what had happened since the day that she had fled from WWE headquarters and the police. There had been the occasional break when for a few minutes when Nikki had started to lose her cool but on and on it went and Stephanie got even more terrified the longer it went on. Nikki was clearly completely insane and blamed everything that had happened on her. She was now convinced that there was no way Nikki was going to let her go whether she got the money or not. She was dead unless somehow she could talk her way out of this or even more unlikely be rescued by someone.

Finally Nikki seemed to have finished her crazy story as she had reached the point where she had followed and then attacked her earlier in the day. Stephanie moaned desperately into her gag yet again and looked at Nikki pleadingly. She was in immense pain from all of the cords that were tying her to the chair and she was incredibly thirsty.

"All day with this, you really want me to take that off you huh?" The question sounded as though Nikki thought Stephanie's willingness to be allowed to speak was surprising and asking a lot but Stephanie nodded and mumbled some more and Nikki came to a decision. "Okay. I'm too fucking good to you. Make a sound louder than I'm talking right now and you know what will happen. And don't bother starting with the pathetic 'Nikki let me go' shit either because I don't want to hear it and I'll just gag you again. Agreed?"

Stephanie nodded again so Nikki leaned over towards her and tried to pull the cloth from between her teeth but it was tied too tightly. Stephanie grunted again which seemed to annoy Nikki as she stood up from the folding chair, "I'm fucking doing it aren't I? Jesus Christ." She walked around behind Stephanie and after working on the knot in the cloth for a few moments it came undone.

Finally after so many hours Stephanie felt the tightness of the cloth loosen and then Nikki pulled it out of her mouth completely. Stephanie began attempting to push the second piece of material which was stuffed in her mouth out with her tongue and then as Nikki walked around in front of her she finished the job and pulled out the damp material and set it aside as Stephanie gratefully took some deep breaths.

There had been enough time for Stephanie to think about what to say when or if she finally got the chance and despite the incessant, nauseating pounding of her head she had managed to come up with two possibilities. She could either attempt to convince Nikki that all of this was Paul's fault rather than her own which would be fine if it worked because after this was over Nikki would either run with the money or be arrested. Either way she could not attempt to hurt Paul. The other option was to try to use Nikki's illness, whatever it was, against her. The only way Stephanie could think of to do this was to talk to her as if she was her step-mom. Nikki had liked to do that in reverse so maybe it would work? Two very different options but which one to choose? Her life could depend on the decision but first there was a more immediate concern. "Nikki I need water." Her voice was hoarse and weak.

There was a bottle of water on the floor next to the folding chair that Nikki had been using and without a word she picked it up and poured water from it into Stephanie's mouth who eagerly swallowed it down until the bottle was empty. "You know you could use some manners," Nikki advised. Apparently she had actually been expecting gratitude.

"Can I have some food, please?" Stephanie hated how pathetic she sounded but in this situation it was hardly a surprise.

"What do you think this is, a fucking hotel?" Nikki was getting angry already.

"All I want is something to eat and maybe more water. You said two days. I can't go without food and water for two days."

Nikki shook her head as if disappointed with herself for listening to Stephanie but she agreed to the request, "Fine. I'll run upstairs and get some stuff. I don't have to bother gagging you again do I?"

"No," Stephanie insisted quickly, "I won't make a sound."

"Good girl." Nikki jogged upstairs and returned less than a minute later with another bottle of water, some chocolate and potato chips. Over the next few minutes Stephanie ate the food and then drank the water. "Anything else I can get you?" Nikki asked sarcastically.

Instead of answering the question Stephanie started out on the course of action she considered to have the best chance of ending with Nikki letting her go even it was in two days time, a combination of both of her ideas. "Nikki why are you doing this to me?"

"Haven't we just spent all night talking about this?" Nikki sat back down on her folding chair.

"I know, I was listening," Stephanie clarified, knowing that one mistake could ruin her chance of this working or worse get her killed, "I mean why me though? Why blame me for this?"

"Who the fuck should I blame?"

Stephanie made her voice as gentle as possible, "Paul. It was Paul not me. I was happy living with you and dad remember? I moved away from Paul to be with you but he came and took me away. He made me tell him about John. He forced it out of me Nikki. He made me go to the cops. I was begging him not to because I didn't want to lose my step-mom but he made me and then you ran away. I was heartbroken for so long. I love you Nikki, this is all wrong."

The expression on Nikki's face confirmed that she was listening but nothing else so Stephanie continued, "This doesn't have to take two days. Call Paul now and make a start on whatever your plan is. I don't care about the money, you could have just asked me for it when you knocked on my door instead of doing this and I would have helped you. I hate to hear about how tough your life has been so take the money. Take the money, let me go and go live the life you deserve."

Stephanie had gone with the best she had, now all she could do was wait for a response from Nikki who still seemed to be processing what she had heard. Finally the response came, "Some of what you say makes sense. I can call Paul tonight but I'm not stupid enough to do it from here. I have to drive away from here first or they will trace the call. But as far as you loving me is concerned I don't believe you."

Stephanie's heart sank and the fear returned as Nikki continued, "You could have lied to Paul. You could have said that you didn't know anything about John but no, you sold me up the river. You wanted me to go to jail. You never loved me. You're just trying to talk your way out of this by blaming Paul. It was you. It was all you. You ruined my life."

"No Nikki," Stephanie tried again desperately, "You're wrong. Please listen to me."

Nikki picked up the two pieces of cloth again and stood up, "No. Listening to you is a bad idea. Open your mouth."

"Nikki please," Stephanie begged but her mouth was quickly stuffed again and the black cloth tied back tightly between her teeth as she began to cry.

"Stop crying you pathetic bitch. I'm going to call Paul. I'll be gone for some time but I'm locking the basement and the house so don't bother trying to escape. When I get back I'd better find you tied to that chair with that in your mouth or I'm going to spend a very long time killing you. Sit still and shut up." With that Nikki walked up the stairs and Stephanie heard the door to the basement being locked behind her as she had said. She left it a few minutes to be sure that Nikki had driven away before screaming for help as loudly as she could into her gag. The sound was way too muffled for anyone to hear, she realised that herself. She doubted that even if someone had been upstairs in Nikki's apartment they would hear her. Even so she kept shouting as loudly as she could for several minutes before giving up. She was so tightly tied up that she could not even struggle against it. Her situation was almost hopeless. Paul was the only one who could save her.

Nikki drove away from her apartment for nearly and hour before pulling over at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. She had taken Paul's number from Stephanie's phone and saved it into all of the different phones that she had bought for this purpose. To be extra cautious she would use each one only once before discarding it. "I've got a surprise for you Paul, wherever you are," she mumbled as she called the number.


	9. Chapter 9

Most of the flight back home was behind Paul but still no one had heard or seen anything of Stephanie. He was now seriously worried about her and had decided that when he got home he would get onto the police and try to report her missing although he knew how they worked, they would try to tell him that Stephanie had not been missing long enough, had left on her own free will and things like that. Hell, they would be right too, Stephanie had left on her own free will. Surely she would come home or contact someone soon? Where could she have gone and why? What had gone on in her head to cause her to back to this after so long? And when she did return what state was she going to be in? This really was a never ending nightmare. It was at that moment that his phone started ringing. Eagerly he took it from his pocket and looked at the display, hoping to see his wife's name but no, it was a cell phone number that he did not have saved or recognise. Maybe it was Stephanie calling from someone else's phone? Please let that be it. "Hello?"

"Paul, do you know who this is?" A woman's voice but not Stephanie's. It sounded familiar but Paul could not place it and he was not in the mood to try right now. "I'm not in the mood for games. Who is this?"

"Nikki."

Nikki Bella! Nikki was calling him? What the fuck was this? This bitch was still on the run from the police, why on Earth would she attempt to contact him of all people? "What the hell do you want?"

The voice grew sarcastic, "You've never been that sharp have you Paul? Let's have a think shall we? Your wife goes missing and on the same day I call you, now what could this mean? Hmmm."

Paul's mouth dropped open and a feeling of dread hit him as he realised what Nikki was inferring. "What the fuck have you done?" He growled, "If you've hurt her I'll fucking kill you myself you little bitch."

There was a sigh at the other end of the phone, "Let me explain something to you. You're not going to do anything to me. You and I are never going to see each other again. The only question is are you ever going to see Stephanie again?"

Despite it now being obvious Paul was still trying to process what was going on, "You've kidnapped her? Fucking Jesus. You're fucking crazy Nikki. You'd better..."

"If I was you I'd be asking what I needed to do to get my wife back rather than throwing insults," Nikki cut in, obviously keep to get to the point of the call. The dreadful reality was now beginning to hit home for Paul. Stephanie had been kidnapped by this psycho. Was she hurt? Was she already dead? Just because Nikki was calling him did not mean that Stephanie was alive. He felt sick, his wife could be lying dead somewhere. "How do I know she's unhurt? How do I know she's..."

"Alive?" Nikki helped out, "She's alive and she'll stay that way as long as you do as I say. I'm not going to waste time with the shit people say on TV in these situations, 'don't involve the cops' and all that bullshit. I know you'll call the cops as soon as this call ends but it doesn't matter. Tracing this call won't help you and neither will anything else they do. You won't find her before my deadline of let's see... ten pm tomorrow. I'm about to give you an account number, write it down and don't fuck up."

"Get me a fucking pen and something to write on!" Paul yelled at everyone in the plane's cabin with him and quickly the order was obeyed.

"Are you ready?"

Paul confirmed that he was and jotted down the account number that he was given. "Okay got it. Don't hurt her Nikki, I swear to god..."

"Shut up. Two million dollars is to be transferred into that account by ten pm tomorrow and tell the cops not to bother trying to trace it. I know they will anyway but I've got someone on it for me and it's going to disappear overseas the second it hits." The money or what Nikki planned to do with it did not matter to Paul. He could raise it and transfer it within the given time period so his only concern was Stephanie. "Okay, you'll get your money but I want to know she's alive first. I want to talk to her. Put her on the phone."

"Do you think I'm an idiot Paul? I'm not calling you from where Stephanie is, obviously. I'll call you again tomorrow to check on your progress and I'll send you a picture or something that proves she's alive. Just don't fuck with me. Two million dollars by ten pm tomorrow or I'll cut her fucking head off and mail it to you." Nikki ended the call and tossed the phone out of the car's window. Let the cops trace it out here to the middle of nowhere and find it with only one number in the memory. It mattered not. What did matter was that the process was underway. Paul now knew that this was a kidnapping and very shortly so would the cops. It was time to head back home and wait out the night with Stephanie. She had brought her two day timeline forward a little but it would not matter, the plan was perfect and it would work. Soon she would be in Dubai with no extradition and two million dollars living the life she truly deserved at last.

Calmly Nikki pulled the car back onto the road and headed for home as she considered that she had forgotten to mention Stephanie and her precious Rocky to Paul. Actually maybe that was a good thing? What if he decided that the cheating slut could rot where she was? That would be no good. There was plenty of time to kill before the next phone call to Paul tomorrow to check on his progress so what to do with it? The answer gradually came to her as she approached her apartment. Stephanie had ruined her life and caused her to go through a living hell for months and all she was going to do in return was spend a day or two tied to a chair? How was that fair? That was nothing to compare to the suffering that she had endured. No, Stephanie needed to suffer a lot more than she had done so far. If she was going to walk away from this alive, and that was definitely an if, she was going to learn what it was like to suffer first.

After arriving home and quickly having something to eat and drink Nikki returned to the basement with a bottle of water to give to her prisoner. Although it was no surprise it was pleasing to see that Stephanie remained exactly as she had been left. Immediately upon hearing her descending the stairs Stephanie had started struggling and moaning again. Would she not learn? Was it not obvious at this point that she was only making things worse for herself by doing that? Some people really were stupid. Nikki approached Stephanie, untied her gag and pulled the cloth out of her mouth again. Now it was time to have some fun with her.

Stephanie was eagerly gasping in breaths as Nikki ordered, "Drink," and poured the water into her mouth. When the bottle was empty Stephanie asked hoarsely, "What happened?"

"I have good news," Nikki confirmed as she returned to her position on the folding chair in front of Stephanie, "Paul seems to be playing ball, not that he has much of a choice of course."

"That's good, I knew it wouldn't be a problem. Nikki, can you untie me? It hurts so much."

Nikki sighed in annoyance, "What did I tell you about this? I'm not going to untie you and if you want to start that shit I'm just going to leave you gagged the whole time. Now can we chat without the bullshit or not?"

"Yes. Okay, let's chat."

It was pathetic how eager Stephanie sounded to talk. In a way it was surprising that Paul would pay two million dollars for this laughable creature. Why was she really worth money to him? She was a fucking wreck mentally and she was a cheating bitch too. Still, it was a good thing that he did or this opportunity to make money would not have been possible. As for right now she could chat to her captive but Stephanie was not going to enjoy it. "You know I got to thinking on the way back here," Nikki began as if letting Stephanie into a secret, "That nanny you've got? You know Paul must be sleeping with her, right?"

Despite her situation Stephanie's eyes narrowed in anger just as Nikki had hoped they would before she growled, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Come on Steph, think about it logically, if you're capable of that. That woman, whatever her name is, is younger than you, hotter than you, and she's not a fruit loop." Clearly Stephanie wanted to rage at her but was afraid of what the consequences would be for doing so which meant that she gave no response other than to glare at Nikki with abject hatred. Nikki loved it and she continued, "Seriously, think about it. I mean look at you. You're pushing forty and frankly since I last saw you you've let yourself go. You don't look like you work out anything like as much and you've not lost all of the baby weight it seems to me."

Even though this was an obvious attempt to draw a reaction Stephanie's mind still began questioning if the words could hold any truth. Could Paul have slept with Anna at some point? She was a very good looking young woman. She told herself that no, Paul would not cheat but then another voice in her head asked why not when she had been with John and nearly with Rocky too more than once. No, this was just Nikki trying to get a reaction and throwing insults and it was too much. "Fuck you Nikki. Untie me and we'll see who works out. I'll beat you to death you little bitch."

"Making threats in your situation?" Nikki taunted, "Hardly a good idea I'd say. Hey, you can be honest with me now, is that baby really Paul's?"

Again Stephanie was unable to ignore the bait, "Fuck you. Of course she's Paul's." Thinking of Luisa and her other three children made Stephanie focus back on her desperate situation and in the space of just a couple of seconds her mood swung wildly from anger back to desperation as she pleaded, "Just let me go Nikki. I have four daughters. I want to go home to my girls and my husband, please!" This was what Nikki had hoped for most. If she read the signs correctly the fear and despair were having an effect on Stephanie's mind. It would hardly be surprising for someone as fucked up as she was. If Paul got his precious wife back hopefully she would be back to square one with her mental health, that would be a hell of a lot more future suffering for both of them. Good.

"Please!" Nikki mocked Stephanie's voice. You're pathetic. You know something, your voice has always irritated me. I think the best thing you can offer this conversation is actually silence." She picked up the two cloths again and immediately Stephanie begged, "No, not again, please. You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to but the thing is I want to. I don't want to listen to you, your bullshit or your irritating voice. No, you can listen to me for a while." This time Stephanie did not attempt to resist as she knew that it was futile and could only get her hurt. She opened her mouth when ordered and Nikki packed it with the cloth again before securing it with the second one and tying it off tightly. As Stephanie tested the effectiveness of her gag again Nikki returned to her chair. "I've got that down just right now huh? Simple but effective, like everything I do. That's why in a day or two I'll be out of the country with two million dollars of your money. But here's the thing Steph; I decided on the way back here that after what you caused me to go through by ratting me out two days tied to a chair is nothing in comparison. What I think is that it would only be fair for you to suffer a lot more before, if, I let you go. What do you think? It's only fair, right?"

Stephanie's eyes were as wide as saucers with fear again and she was clearly pleading into her gag, clearly terrified at what the words could mean for her. Perfect. "Why don't you stay there and I'll be right back and we can get on that." Nikki walked away and up the stairs leaving Stephanie once more fruitlessly struggling with the cords that tied her to the chair, frightened beyond words at what might await her.

* * *

The jet carrying Paul was just landing but he scarcely noticed as he stared blankly out of the window. He had made a call to the police and they would be here to collect him but he could not forget Nikki telling him that nothing the police would do would help him or Stephanie. He just wanted to pay the money and get his wife back. That had to be possible. He had not seen his wife for the last time. Had he? Maybe he had let her down in the past or maybe he had not, either way he would do whatever it took to make sure that Stephanie came home unharmed. First though he had to get home and explain what had happened to Anna and get her to take the girls to Vince's until this was over. Vince. He needed to call Vince too and tell him what was happening. He was losing it already and not thinking things through but he could not afford to lose it, not now. He had to keep it together if Stephanie was going to make it through this, that much was obvious. Stephanie was not depending on him for her health any more, now her life was at stake.


	10. Chapter 10

After leaving the basement Nikki had headed into her bedroom to change into some older, worn clothes that she had no use for and had no problem with them getting covered in Stephanie's blood but as she was doing so she considered that this was a bad idea. There was a night to get through yet which would mean sleeping in the basement with Stephanie just to be on the safe side. There was no way that she was going to take the chance of Stephanie getting free, no matter how remote the possibility was. It would be hard to sleep down there if Stephanie was in pain, she would be crying and moaning all night. That would be no good at all. No, it would be better if this waited until morning. For now it would be better if Stephanie felt as close to safe as her situation allowed. If only she had thought of this before announcing her intentions to make Stephanie suffer. Damn it, a mistake. She never made mistakes, ever. But now she had made one.

Then another thought came to Nikki, Stephanie had only been given one opportunity to use the bathroom since their arrival. The last thing she wanted was to spend the night trying to sleep in a basement filled with the stench of piss or even worse what if Stephanie shit herself? There was no need for this to get disgusting like that. Yet another change of plan was necessary but Nikki told herself that she was capable of that, she was a very smart and sharp person, not like most others, least of all the stupid bitch down in the basement. There was however one obvious problem. Letting Stephanie use the bathroom meant untying her and that was dangerous. It was something to be handled very carefully.

By the time she descended to the basement once more she had put together a way to handle this awkward situation and as she approached Stephanie and then sat in front of her once more she spoke to her sweetly, like her step-daughter which was what she really should have been if she was not so stupid, cruel and self obsessed. "Steph? I'm sorry about before. I've just got a lot going on in my head and I'm not thinking straight. I shouldn't be blaming you for all of this really and talking about hurting you. You were right, if anything this is on Paul. I told you if I got my money I would let you go unhurt and I will. I'm sorry for threatening you okay? Would you like to use the bathroom? Then maybe I can get you something to eat and maybe a cup of coffee or something? How does that that sound?"

Seemingly relieved that she was not about to be hurt Stephanie nodded that she wanted to use the bathroom and also that she wanted something to eat and drink. Nikki was now getting better at understanding Stephanie's attempts to speak through her gag and right now she seemed to be attempting to convince her to remove it once more, as if that was going to happen. "Come on Steph, work with me here huh? I'll take you to the bathroom but you know I can't take that out of your mouth while I do that. I'll untie you but I need to tie your hands behind your back again before we can go upstairs. When we get back down here I'll make you something to eat and then obviously I'll take it out so that you can eat and maybe we can talk for a while. Okay?" The response was a frustrated moan but Nikki decided to proceed anyway. "I'll untie your wrists and your arms, don't start trying to scratch me or anything. As I said I really don't want to hurt you so don't make me."

Stephanie sensed that this may be the only opportunity she would get to make a bid for freedom as Nikki stood to begin untying her but should she do it? Nikki had gone from threatening to make her suffer which obviously meant that was to be tortured in some way only minutes ago to now apologising and offering to make food and coffee for her. The woman was crazy, that much had been obvious all day and it seemed like there were two personalities battling for control of Nikki inside of her own head. Could she really rely on the assurance that she had been given that she would not be hurt and would be released when Nikki got her money? No. Nikki could flip and kill her at any moment. She needed to try to escape if she could, but how? Nikki was going to tie her hands behind her back again. At long last some of the pain began to be relieved as Nikki untied first one arm and then the other from the arms of the chair. Next the cords that were tied around her chest and stomach were released and finally Stephanie could move a little and breathe a little easier without the constriction of them. An involuntary moan of relief escaped her but still her legs were secured to the chair in multiple places so she was unable to make a bid for freedom yet.

"Sit still and be quiet, hands behind your back." Nikki was pleased but not surprised that Stephanie was complying with her instructions. She might be stupid but she was not stupid enough to get herself hurt by resisting in this hopeless situation. She secured Stephanie's hands behind her back which meant that it was now safe to untie the remaining cords which were binding her to the chair. A couple of minutes later this was accomplished and Nikki was walking behind Stephanie as she made her way slowly and unsteadily up the stairs.

With Nikki's help Stephanie was relieved and she had already planned the exact moment that she was going to make her escape attempt, having decided that her situation was hopeless and that if Nikki was going to kill her it would be after she had fought for her own life, not as she sat tied to a chair. Nikki had just pulled her suit pants back up for her and fastened them when Stephanie struck. A quickly and as powerfully as possible she kicked Nikki in the stomach, hearing the satisfying sound of the breath being driven from her as she fell to the floor. This was the chance. The only way that Stephanie could attack was with her feet so she began to lay more kicks into the winded, gasping figure of her captor which was now lying on the tiled bathroom floor. Stephanie was too frantic to consider aiming the kicks, she just got them in as quickly and as powerfully as she could. She did not count them but after what she imagined had been five or six kicks she fled from the bathroom.

Stephanie knew that this was the chance to get away and she had to take it. Nikki was down and hopefully incapacitated but still she had to actually get out of the apartment to safety. The effort that she had put into kicking Nikki had already left her short of breath as her nose was partially blocked and the gag was still filling her mouth and also her legs were not very steady under her from being tied up for so long but despite these problems she managed to almost run along the hallway and into the kitchen. On the way into this place she had seen that there were other apartments within easy reach, if she could just get out there. Freedom was so near and yet so far because as she awkwardly tried to open the door with back to it so that her hands to could push the handle down it would not move. The door was locked. The only option now was to kick it but she already knew that the door opened inwards so this was also likely to achieve nothing.

It was at that moment that Stephanie glanced out of the kitchen window and saw a man who looked to be in his late twenties wearing a tracksuit walking out of an apartment further up the street. It looked as though he was about to go for a run or something. Attracting the attention of this man would likely be the best chance to escape this situation with her life. Desperately she began kicking at the door as hard as she could and screaming into her gag as loudly as possible, hoping that some of the sounds would cause the man to come over and investigate what they were. Her heart sank however as she saw the man turn in the opposite direction and begin to jog away. He had not heard her. It was over. She was not going to escape.

Now devoid of hope she sank to the kitchen floor with her back to the door that had prevented her escape and began to cry pathetically. It was at that moment that Nikki stumbled into the kitchen, holding her side and with blood running from her nose. She had a look of pure hatred and fury on her face and as she entered the room Stephanie saw that she was holding a razor blade which gleamed in the light as she growled at Stephanie, "Big fucking mistake." Stephanie was convinced that these were the final moments of her life.

* * *

Every second since Nikki's phone call had been a living hell for Paul. Not only was he faced with the possibility, the likelihood, of his wife, the love of his life being brutally murdered by the psychotic Nikki Bella it had also been necessary for the sake of the children to carry on the pretence that everything was normal as he had returned home and tried his best to come up with answers to their questions. At the first available opportunity he had taken Anna into the kitchen where they could talk privately and informed the horrified woman of the awful situation. She had also managed to do a good job of appearing to remain calm as she obeyed his request of getting the girls ready to take them to stay with Vince until this was over. Next he called Vince and broke the awful news to him and asked him to take care of the girls as he did not want them around a house full of cops especially if bad news arrived. His horrified father in law agreed and in short order Anna and the children were on the way over there in her car.

With the children now gone Paul called the number he had been given for the officer or detective, whatever he was, who was in charge of the team the police had put on this case. They had agreed to wait a few streets away until he got his daughters out of the house to prevent upsetting them but now he expected that they would move in with all kinds of equipment that might or might not help in getting Stephanie home alive. To that end Paul got straight back on the phone and began making arrangements to put together the two million dollars that Nikki was demanding. If she wanted money that badly she could have it, the loss of the money meant nothing to him if it bought the safety of his wife. She was still alive out there. He had to believe that.

* * *

Indeed Stephanie was still alive out there although she was thinking that soon she might prefer not to be. She had been dragged back down to the basement and viciously tied to the chair once more. Nikki was standing over her with the same look of fury on her face and the razor blade in her right hand. She had no doubt that Nikki was about to go to work on her with it and she screamed out of sheer terror into her gag even though it was pointless.

"Oh you're going to scream Steph," Nikki assured her, "I'm going to give you plenty of reasons to scream."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I couldn't be overly graphic with this chapter as we're T rated, but that is probably for the best anyway as I would not want anyone to have to stop reading.

* * *

Stephanie felt certain that she knew what was about to happen to her and she had never been so terrified in her life. If she had not been to the bathroom only minutes before she probably would have lost control of her bladder and pissed herself in fear. Nikki was standing over her with a razor blade in her hand. This was it, she was going to die. Here, today, she was convinced that she was going to die and do so in terrible pain because Nikki was going to make sure to torture her first before cutting her throat an watching her bleed to death. It was apparent from the look of crazed hatred in Nikki's eyes that the pathetic escape attempt that she had just made had sent her captor over the edge. There was nothing she could do to help herself as she was unable to move or to cry out loud enough to be heard by anyone. The only option was to wait for the pain and then finally the end. She would never see Paul or any of her daughters again. She would never see her dad again. Would they even find her body? Would they ever catch Nikki? Would they ever even find out what had happened in this basement? At least she was about to see her mom again. Tears poured down her face as Nikki leant forward to make her first cut with the razor blade.

A sharp stab of pain shot through Nikki's side as she attempted to bend over Stephanie which caused her to recoil sharply and gasp in pain. The kicks that Stephanie had put into her as she had crumpled to the bathroom floor must have done some damage to her ribs as well as causing the nosebleed which she had to keep wiping at with her hand. "You fucking bitch," she hissed. "You've hurt my ribs. Let's start there then shall we?" With that she leaned down over her bound captive once more, this time expecting and ready to take the pain from her injured ribs and sliced Stephanie's blouse open with the razor blade to expose her side. Stephanie was so securely tied to the chair that she could not even attempt to flinch away for the blade and her protests of course ignored and then Nikki slowly sliced her skin open all across her right side just under the bottom of her rib cage, causing Stephanie to scream in pain into her gag. Blood began to flow from the cut immediately but Nikki was using a razor blade for a specific reason; maximum pain and minimum blood loss. The cuts that she was going to inflict would be incredibly painful for a long time but they would also seal themselves relatively quickly which would keep the blood loss down and mean that there was no danger of Stephanie dying, yet at least. Killing her was not something that Nikki could do easily, or even something that she really wanted to do but she would do if Paul made it necessary.

Over the next couple of minutes Nikki cut away the rest of Stephanie's blouse to now leave her top half naked aside from her bra. "Look at the state of you," she sneered in disgust after finishing the task. "Stretch marks and what the hell is that scar? You've had a C-section? Jesus, you're body is a fucking mess. What the hell does Paul see in you? Huh?" Let's see if he likes a few more marks on you, what do you say?" Stephanie tried pathetically to plead for mercy but was only taunted in return. "Huh? How about some more marks on that stomach? Sounds good to me." With that Nikki proceeded to make several cuts with the razor on Stephanie's stomach and took great delight in seeing how unbearable the suffering was becoming for her victim. It was just what she deserved, payback at last and it felt so good. The more cuts she made all over Stephanie's body, targeting the softest and most sensitive areas such as the insides of her elbows and between her fingers as well as her sides and stomach, the more Stephanie screamed and cried and that only made the experience better for Nikki until finally she felt satisfied. Inflicting this on Stephanie had almost cleansed her of the last year of torture that her own life had been. Not only was it cleansing but it also gave her an almost sexual rush to finally let it all out and put it behind her. Now all she needed was the two million dollars and she could get the hell out of the country and start over in Dubai, living the kind of life that she deserved.

Regaining her breath and control of her emotions led Nikki to a realisation; she had lost control and messed her plan up. The sobbing, blood covered mess in front of her was never going to be quiet all night now yet there was no option but to sleep down here in the basement with her in case of the very unlikely event that she managed to begin to work herself free. Allowing Stephanie to escape and contact Paul was the only thing that could ruin her perfect plan now and that was not going to happen even if it did mean getting no sleep all night. "Shut the fuck up Steph, now! I'm warning you. You see this mattress and these blankets? I'm going to settle down to sleep soon and if you wake me up we're going to have another session with this razor blade. If I'm going to be awake I'm going to make use of the time so it's up to you." Then she remembered something else that she needed to do. Paul had demanded a picture of Stephanie to prove that she was alive. If it was a picture he wanted it was a picture that he would get. It would be amusing to imagine his reaction when he saw the pathetic mess that his supposedly powerful wife was reduced to by nothing more than a few pieces of cord and cloth and a razor blade. "I'll be right back. I need to get a phone so that we can take a picture for your precious Paul. Apparently he's of the opinion that you might be dead. Would kind of be a shame to have to prove him right huh?"

Nikki dashed up the stairs as fast as she could go with her injured side and found the small collection of cheap cell phones that she had bought in preparation for these couple of days. It was unlikely that they would all need to be used but that was what good preparation was all about. It was better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it. With a cell phone in hand she went back down to the basement and loaded up the phone's camera. The phone was a cheap piece of crap so the picture would be low quality but that hardly mattered, it would serve Nikki's purpose of showing that dumb son of a bitch Paul that his idiot wife was alive and that he had better come up with the money by the deadline that she had given him. Stephanie was looking down at the blood soaked mess that was her own body and crying so Nikki yelled at her, "Look up you stupid bitch. How can I take a picture properly if you don't look up?"

Stephanie looked up and Nikki snapped the picture. A few seconds later it had processed and she looked it to decide if it was good enough. A smile broke out on her face as she decided that yes, the picture would do just fine. Another idea came to her just as she was about to set the phone aside. "How about a selfie Steph huh? We used to do that quite often together remember? That was when we were family though wasn't it? I bet you wish we still were right now." Nikki winced due to another stab of pain from her side as she crouched beside Stephanie so that their heads were level and held the phone out in front of here. "Smile for Paul, it might be the last time he sees your ugly ass."

* * *

Unlike Nikki Paul had not even attempted to go to sleep that night. There had been no further contact from Nikki and the worry about Stephanie was driving him absolutely crazy and had actually caused him to be sick after trying to force some food down even though his appetite had deserted him. Knowing that his wife could very possibly have already been murdered by Nikki and even if she had not she was probably suffering both physically and mentally was torture for him also. He had the money ready to be transferred that Nikki had specified if it came to that and it appeared that it would do because the cops had made no progress at all towards locating Stephanie. Her phone was untraceable and the phone that Nikki had used to call him had been found in the middle of nowhere in some grass at the side of the road. No one had any idea where his wife was. Waiting for Nikki's next call was the only option but Paul had not been idle, in fact he had made a call of his own and brought someone in who may be able to help to get Stephanie home safely. That someone had just arrived at his house and been let in by one of the team that the police had posted to stay there until this situation came to some kind of conclusion.

"Hey Paul," the visitor greeted and walked across the living room towards him as he stood. They exchanged a hug and Paul closed his eyes, hoping that this would work. "Hi Brie, thanks for coming."


	12. Chapter 12

With a groan Nikki awoke and rolled over on the uncomfortable mattress. Still only half awake her hand failed several times to find her watch which lay nearby on top of her stack of clean clothes which she had arranged the previous night. Finally she located it and saw much to her surprise that she had slept all the way through to morning. Next her attention went to her bound and gagged prisoner who sat only a few feet away, from the chest down covered in cuts and her own dried blood. Stephanie was also awake but she had apparently not been making any noise during the night. The threat of another round with the razor blade must have taken care of that problem. "Jesus, fuck," Nikki moaned as she stood, the pain from her ribs was quite intense.

"Look on the bright side Steph, whatever happens today you won't be sitting there in pain this time tomorrow," she said pleasantly as she began to dress in a deliberately cheap and nondescript outfit of jeans and a dark red hoodie. She looked like exactly what she needed to look like today; a nobody. "You'll either be in a hospital getting fixed up or you'll be dead. Depends on your husband huh?"

There was no attempted response from Stephanie who stared ahead blankly. "Are you listening to me? Don't start being ignorant now. I just said you might be seeing Paul later." Again there was no response so Nikki clicked her fingers a couple of times in front of Stephanie's face. No response. "Oh," Nikki grinned at the realisation, "That's why I got such a good sleep. We're back there again huh? This was when you used to need your step-mom Nikki to come help you, right? You'd shut down but step-mom Nikki would be there for you. Well I know you can still hear me you little bitch. Nikki is still here and she wants to find out if you really fake these little shut downs. Shall we do that? Huh?"

Again Nikki clicked her fingers in front of Stephanie but there was response apart from the regular blinking of her eyes. "Fine, have it your way." Nikki picked up the blood covered razor blade from nearby and showed it to Stephanie. "You can still hear and that means you can still feel pain, yes? I do hope so." With that Nikki made another long cut along the top side of Stephanie's right forearm. "Ohhh," Nikki purred. "That was a good one, that must fucking hurt? Damn, I wish all day to have fun but I have things to do. Sit still and I'll be back soon." Nikki hurried from the basement leaving Stephanie motionless and with yet more of her blood dripping onto the already stained concrete floor.

* * *

When Nikki returned to the basement she looked different because her hair was now blonde. "Say hi to Gemma Bradley, Steph. That's right, Gemma is a blonde and today she's going to Dubai. Well, either that or she's coming back here and cutting your throat but hey, let's hope for the best from Paul huh?" Now, I was just thinking upstairs and I realised that telling you about my Gemma Bradley false identity was stupid and I'm sorry to say that it means that you won't be going anywhere today. I can't have someone rescuing you and then you telling them to detain anyone using the name Gemma Bradley at an airport now can I? Of course not. So, here's the new plan. If Paul gets me my money I'll mail him a letter with this address on it. Maybe he'll get it tomorrow or maybe it'll be the next day. I don't give a fuck honestly because I'll be long gone. Well, this is it Steph. We'll likely never see each other again."

For a moment Nikki paused and then feigned disappointment. "What? You're not even going to try to say goodbye? You're not going to wish me the best? No manners some people. Come on, I'll be extra nice and let you finish this bottle of water before I go." It took several moments for Nikki to remove Stephanie's gag but when she did there was still no response from the older woman. "Fine then," Nikki sighed, "Just drink." She tipped the water into Stephanie's mouth, some of it was swallowed and some poured down Stephanie's chin and chest and then onto the floor. "Right, enough with wasting time. I have to get out of here." Nikki replaced the gag just as tightly as it had been tied before and left without another word.

Forty five minutes later Nikki had driven far enough away from Stephanie's location and had called her old friend who had helped her to set up this operation. He would by now have in turn called his contact and told him to be ready to transfer the money from the account that Paul would be wiring it to, take out the agreed upon cuts and forward the rest to a secure account overseas for Nikki to access as and when she wanted to. Now it was time for the moment of truth and her heart was racing as she pulled her car over to the side of the road in another remote location. It was time to call Paul for hopefully the final time so she took out a cell phone and called the one number which was saved in its memory. The phone rang several times which was surprising but not as surprising as the voice which eventually answered the call, "Nicole, it's Brie."

It had been a year since Nikki had spoken to her sister and she missed her badly. The sound of Brie's voice instantly brought tears to hear eyes and her voice faltered, "Brie? Oh Brie. I've missed you so much. Why are you on Paul's phone?"

"I miss you too Nicole and I want you to come home," Brie said gently. "I know that you're not on your meds and that you're not in control of what you're doing right now. Please, let Stephanie go and come home or bring Steph back here. You don't want to be doing this and if you come here and bring Stephanie back safely we can help you."

At that moment Nikki's expression hardened and with it Paul's plan failed because Nikki sensed betrayal. Yet again someone had betrayed her. "Oh Brie, even you'll stab me in the back huh? What is it with everyone? Well, it's not going to work. Get Paul on the phone now or Stephanie's dead I swear to God I'll kill her."

Paul's voice came through so quickly that the phone must have been on speaker. "Don't do it Nikki, don't you fucking hurt my wife."

"Get me my fucking money!" Nikki screamed as loudly as she could, her composure totally deserting her. "Wire the money right now or she's fucking dead!"

"I want proof that she's alive!" Paul screamed back.

Nikki tried desperately to regain herself, realising that losing control now could see her carefully constructed plan fall apart, "Fine. Fine, you'll get your proof and I'll give you one hour. The money or your precious fucking wife, you decide." With that she ended the call and quickly sent the two pictures of Stephanie to Paul's number. She knew that the cops would have traced the call so she hurled the phone out of the car's window and drove away.

"Nikki's not a killer Paul," Brie said gently as she touched his arm in an attempt to reassure him. He had just ended the call and looked like he was about to have a stroke at any second, his face was bright red with anger and he was literally shaking. "She's acting crazy I know but one thing she's not capable of is murder, trust me," Brie continued. "Send her the money and she'll let Steph go, I'm sure of it."

At that moment Paul's phone beeped and then quickly beeped again. Two pictures had been delivered. He opened the first one and stared for a moment in horror at the image before dropping the phone and rushing from the room into the kitchen. Brie picked up the phone and looked at the picture herself as she heard the sounds of Paul being sick coming through from the kitchen followed by the sound of a glass object breaking. "Oh Nikki, what the hell have you done?" She breathed as she fought off her own wave of nausea. The image showed Stephanie tied to a chair, covered in blood and she had cuts all over her stomach and sides.

"Let me have that," the detective in charge of the police detail demand and held his hand out for the phone. Brie handed it over and the guy looked at it as Paul walked back into the room, his voice breaking due to a combination of shock, devastation and rage, "She's fucking butchered her. Look at what she's done to her for fuck's sake. I'm sending the money, I'm sending it right now. We've got to get her out of there."

"Paul," The detective spoke up, "I have to be the one to tell you that these pictures don't prove that your wife is alive. They could have been taken yesterday. If you send the money it doesn't guarantee that we're going to find her alive. I have to tell you that."

Paul swallowed deeply to clear the lump in his throat, "I know. Don't you think I know that? I don't give a fuck about the money, I'm sending it and I have to hope to God that Steph's alive and that Nikki tells me where to find her. It's all I can do."

"She's alive Paul, Nikki's not a killer," Brie insisted delicately.

"Look what she's fucking done!" Paul screamed as he pointed at the phone.

"I know. I know Paul, it's disgusting and it's awful and it makes me sick too but I'm telling you, Steph is alive. I believe that, I really do. Nikki could not kill someone. She's my sister, I know her." Paul squeezed his eyes together as tightly as he could and took several deep breaths. When he spoke again it was a little more calmly. "I'm sending the money. Nikki's going to call back and tell me where Steph is. That's what's going to happen."

The detective spoke after a brief pause. "Paul, if Brie is so sure that her sister is not capable of murder you could consider calling her bluff and refusing to send the money."

"Fuck that," Paul growled, "And fuck the money. I don't give a shit about it, I just want Steph away from that psycho bitch before anything else can happen to her. I'm sending the money and that's final."

* * *

Waiting for an hour to go by had been torture for Nikki, she was so close to getting her money but yet it still had not actually happened. If Paul decided to act the hero now then it could still all fall apart even at this late stage. What if the stupid cops talked him out of sending the money somehow? What if they did not believe that she would actually kill Stephanie and they convinced him to call her bluff? That was probably what fucking Brie was telling them. Her own sister of all people, in the same house as that bastard Paul, taking his side on this thing. It would be good to get away and forget about everyone and everything that she was leaving behind. The hour was up, it was time to call Paul.

"Money!" Was her simple, angry demand when the call was answered.

"I've sent your fucking money," Paul growled. "Now where's Steph? Tell me Nikki, now."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening. I'll be checking that my money is really there now and if it is I'll mail you the address where you can find her. If the money isn't there then you just killed you wife."

"Wait!" She heard Paul yell but she once more hurled the phone out of the car's window and drove away. There was only one more call to make and she could use her own phone for that. A couple of minutes later after making her final call the wave of emotion that she was riding was like nothing she had experienced before. She had done it. The money was hers. Her genius plan had played out perfectly and now all that she had to do was mail the address of the apartment to Paul and then get the hell out of the country. Just one final hurdle to get over and she would be in the clear.


	13. Chapter 13

When Nikki walked into the busy airport, wheeling her case along behind her a smile spread onto her face. This was it, the final step. Rather than immediately rushing to the closest airport she had driven for many hours after mailing her letter to Paul and was therefore nowhere near where the cops would be expecting her to show up. That was the difference, people were stupid but she was not. "You're too good Nikki, just too good," she breathed to herself before proceeding through to the check in area. From start to finish the plan had worked perfectly as she had known that it would. Everything she had ever planned worked perfectly. There was only one mistake that she had ever made and that was to begin to care about that bitch Stephanie McMahon and accidentally reveal that she had been the one behind John's death. Still, since she had put together this kidnapping idea she had not made a single mistake and for that she now had the lion's share of two million dollars waiting for her in Dubai and had gotten revenge on Stephanie for stabbing her in the back too. All that she had to do was get through this airport and out of the country.

Upon reaching the check in area she saw that the self service check in terminals all had the same message displayed on their screens; 'Out of order' but she had no doubt that this was not true. Their must have been an alert sent out to all airports and now they were on alert to look for her and for that reason everyone was being made to check in manually so that officials could have more time to check everyone out and try to spot her. Her false passport and her change of hair color would be enough to see her comfortably through, she was sure of that, as long as she could stay cool and not give herself away. If she started looking or sounding nervous in front of whoever spoke to her then suspicions might begin to be aroused but of course that would not happen. One of her talents was acting and all she had to do now was act like someone who was relaxed but also looking forward to going on holiday to London. London was her first destination as yet another method to reduce the chances of attention being paid to her. People who were flying to countries without an extradition treaty with the US would be targeted for closer inspection rather than those flying to England or other European countries. The plan was to take it easy at a hotel in London for a couple of days before then flying on to Dubai and a life of luxury. The lines at check in were quite long so she tried to adopt a similar attitude to those around her, annoyed and impatient that it was necessary to wait like this due to the failure of some stupid computer terminals. Over twenty minutes dragged by but eventually Nikki was next in line to step forward and speak to the bored looking fat guy behind the desk.

Colin Mountford was tired and bored as he approached the end of his shift but he was trained not to let these things have an effect on how well he did his job. Whenever there was an alert out for someone this shit happened, having to check everyone's papers or passports and question them about their travel plans. It was a woman who they were looking for and yet he had to question the men too which seemed a little stupid to him. If there was one benefit to any of this it was that at least he could speak to hot women who came through in their revealing vacation outfits. Every cloud had a silver lining. He dismissed the ugly, uninteresting fat woman and her two kids by telling them where to proceed through to the security checks on their hand luggage and looked to see who was next in line. "Step forward," her ordered. The blonde woman who was next up was much better looking and had a great pair of tits too. She handed her passport over and greeted him pleasantly. It was worth an effort to sound pleasant himself during his questions for someone this hot. "Where are you flying to?" He asked, making a good job of feigning genuine interest.

"London," the woman smiled excitedly.

"England huh? Vacation?"

"Yeah," the woman gushed. "I'm going to see my boyfriend. It's been so long."

Lucky bastard, Colin thought as he compared the photo on the passport to the woman in front of him. It was definitely her, Gemma Bradley. The flight reservation was made in her name and she only had one case to check in. Routine. Something made him look back at the picture on the passport and at the woman again. What were the odds? This woman seemed to have a slight resemblance to the Nikki woman who was wanted by the police but in the picture Nikki was a brunette and in any case the resemblance only seemed slight to him. There was no cause here to raise an alarm but he had an idea what he would do, just to be sure.

Nikki loaded her case onto the conveyor and waited for the fat piece of shit to finish fucking around and put her mind at ease. She was satisfied with her acting job and the fact that the guy had looked at her chest more than once. Yeah, you get distracted, she thought. Next the guy ran through the usual crap, asking if she had packed her own bags an if she had agreed to carry anything for anyone else, as if anyone would answer yes to that.

"So how long are you going to England for?"

"A week," Nikki smiled, making it one of her best ones. "I can't wait to see John, it's so hard being in a long distance relationship."

"Your passport hasn't been used before. Where did you meet him?"

"You're right," Nikki continued to smile. "I've never flown before. Some first time huh? What is it, nine hours? He was over here on business for a week, we met in a bar and... well you don't want to know, right?"

"Right," the fat guy laughed as he leaned over and affixed a label to the handle of her case. He sat back upright and put her boarding pass into her passport and closed it with a slight snapping sound. "Well, we're done here." He gestured over to the right. "You can proceed over there any time you like and go through security." He handed the passport back over and Nikki took it and began to open her purse to drop it in.

"Have a great time Nikki."

"Thank you."

Nikki froze and her mouth dropped open slightly as her heart almost stopped beating. The man's eyes widened and he reached under the desk. Instantly she knew what she had just done, she had fallen into the simplest trap imaginable and it was all over. Everything had just fallen apart around her in that moment. It was the worst feeling imaginable. So much planning and hard work had been put in and it had all gone perfectly until that stupid mistake. An alarm began to sound and reverberate around the check in area. Everyone turned to look in her direction as more security people began to run over towards her. Run. That was what she needed to do. Run and get out of there before she could be detained, that was the only option now. She took off towards the airport's entrance but only made it a few yards before a security officer appeared directly in her path with a large black gun, some kind of assault rifle, pointing right at the middle of her chest. "Don't even think about it," the man yelled loudly as people screamed, yelled in panic and fled for cover in all directions. "On the ground! Now! Hands behind your head!"

Nikki looked around and saw more armed men approaching. It was over. She was done. There would be no money, no Dubai, no life of luxury. It was tempting to run, even if she got shot what was there really to lose? But no, the thought of being shot, the thought of the pain scared her too much.

"On the fucking ground now!" The man in front of her screamed once more, somehow managing to be louder than before. "Get down or I'll put you down! Hands behind your head!"

Tears began to fill Nikki's eyes and then spill out onto her cheeks as she sank to her knees on the cold, hard floor and then lay down on her chest with her hands behind her head. A couple of minutes later some real cops had shown up and she was being hauled out of the airport's entrance with her hands behind her back in handcuffs, towards a waiting police car. "It's over Nikki, tell us where Stephanie McMahon is," The police officer who was escorting her demanded.

Nikki half turned and spat on the man's huge chest, the saliva running down the dark blue uniform. "Fuck you, I'm saying nothing. I have the right to remain silent and I'm using it." With no any fanfare and without offering any further comment or resistance of any kind she was bundled into the back seat of the police car and a moment later it crawled into traffic without its siren or lights in operation. There was no need for any of that because Nikki Bella was finally in custody and would now be made to face justice for her multiple crimes.


	14. Chapter 14

Against the advice of the detectives Paul's refuge throughout the night had been at the bottom of a bottle. The news of Nikki's arrest had filtered through to them quickly but so had the fact that she was refusing to say anything, let alone reveal where Stephanie could be found. Brie's final contribution had been to snatch Paul's phone from him and delete the two images of Stephanie that he had been constantly staring at, as doing so was only making things worse for him. She had then left when they had heard the news regarding Nikki's arrest as there was nothing that she could do to help Paul any further and she and the rest of her family now had their own heartbreak to deal with in the fact that Nikki was going to be spending a very long time in jail. The prospect of jail for Nikki did nothing to help Paul however as he was still in the dark as to whether his wife was even alive let alone where to find her. The only hope that he had was that Nikki had lived up to her word and had mailed him the address where they could find Stephanie.

By morning Paul was propped in the corner of the couch, his hair and clothes a mess and still half drunk but also working on a serious hangover. His sickness was quickly forgotten about when he saw one of the detectives walk into the living room with some mail in his hand. "Is there anything from Nikki?" Paul demanded anxiously. "There's a handwritten envelope here," the detective said as he handed over one of the items before dropping the rest onto the nearby table. The envelope was addressed to Paul and he recognised the handwriting as Nikki's. As he tore open the envelope his heart was in his mouth as he half expected to find some taunting message about never finding Stephanie alive inside rather than her location but no, there was an address written on the small sheet of paper and nothing else. "I've got it," he announced, as if scarcely believing it himself. "Let's get out of here!"

"Give me the address Paul," the detective ordered, holding his hand out for the sheet of paper. "I'll have someone there in minutes."

"No!" Paul insisted loudly. He knew what having this address in his hand meant; Brie had been right about her sister. Something within Nikki, maybe some small part of her that was fighting against her illness could not allow her to be responsible for Stephanie's death. Stephanie was alive and she was at the address that he was looking at. "Steph's alive, that's the only reason that Nikki would send this. I'm going to be the one who brings my wife out of that fucking house. You're going to get me there and I'm going to rescue my wife. Is that clear?" The detective looked over Paul's shoulder at the address. "That's probably a two hour drive from here. I can't recommend waiting that long. Let me get someone out there now."

"I'm going to be the one who goes in there. I'm rescuing my wife. Use your fucking sirens, and get us down there fast" Paul barked as he headed for the door, not taking no for an answer or waiting to argue the point any further. His exit left the detectives no option but to follow. In under an hour and a half the car carrying Paul and two detectives arrived at the address that Nikki had written down and pulled up outside it. An ambulance was only seconds behind them, having been called minutes earlier by one of the detectives. Paul jumped out of the back seat of the car as quickly as he could but one of the detectives had gotten out of the front even quicker and stood in his way. "We don't know who or what's inside that apartment. I can't let you go in there yet, you need to wait here for us to clear the place first."

Paul's hands were clenched into fists at his sides. Every second of the journey from home to this place had been a nightmare and now this guy was going to try to prevent him from getting to Stephanie? No chance. "I'm going in there and I'm bringing my wife out. You've got two choices; help me or shoot me, that's the only way you're going to stop me." The detectives looked at each other and the one who was not standing in front of Paul nodded. "Let's just get in there. If he wants to go in, let him. If it was my wife I'd be exactly the same."

"Alright," the other detective agreed, "But you have to wait for us to kick the door in and clear the place first, okay?"

"Okay," Paul lied. With that the three men headed up to the front door of Nikki's apartment and with two powerful kicks from the bigger of the two detectives the door frame splintered and the door swung lazily open. The two detectives stormed in with their guns ready to put down any threats but of course there was no threat to deal with. Disregarding the instructions that he had been given Paul stormed in right behind them. It had been obvious from the pictures that Nikki had sent that Stephanie was tied up in a basement so rather than scanning for threats he scanned for where a basement could be. There was an open door which revealed a staircase leading down from the opposite side of the kitchen that he had just barged into. That staircase had to lead down to the basement. "Steph!" He yelled as he ran towards it.

"Wait!" One of the detectives yelled but Paul ignored him and charged down the stairs into the basement, taking them two at a time. When he was halfway down he saw Stephanie, still tied to the chair with her back to him. It was impossible to tell if she was alive or not but he could see blood staining the floor all around the bottom of the chair and it looked like there had been a lot of it. Had Nikki cut her throat? "Steph, I'm here baby."

When he reached Stephanie relief nearly took Paul's legs from under him. She was alive. She was covered in cuts and her pants were soaked both her own blood and urine and she looked to be in a deep state of shock but her eyes were open and she had just blinked. She was alive. "Oh God Steph. Thank God. I've got you baby," he gasped out as he untied Stephanie's gag and removed the cloth from around her head and between her teeth, only to find another one stuffed inside her mouth. "Spit that out baby," he ordered gently but Stephanie did not respond so he had to work it out himself before tossing it away.

"She's alive?" One of the detectives asked from the bottom of the stairs. "She is. Get a knife down here so I can untie her," Paul ordered.

"There's one right there, behind you."

Paul turned around and saw a large kitchen knife sitting on the floor near a makeshift bed which Nikki must have slept in. He picked it up and turned back to Stephanie with it in his hand and that was when he finally got a reaction from her. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she stared in terror at the knife rather than at him. "No," she croaked pathetically, her throat raw from dehydration.

"Steph, it's me, it's Paul," he almost whispered as gently as he could even though his heart was breaking as he looked at the fear in his wife's beautiful eyes and imagined what Nikki had put her through to leave her in this state, both mentally and physically. "No one's going to hurt you now sweetheart. I'm going to cut these cords and untie you. We're going to get you to a hospital and you're going to be okay, I promise. I promise baby, do you hear me?"

Stephanie continued to stare but tears began to flow down her cheeks and she managed to croak out one further word. "Paul." It had not been a question but a plea for help. A plea for him to take the pain away. Without wasting another second Paul began to cut away the cords that were binding his wife to the chair. As he cut each one they revealed horrible sores where they had been cutting into Stephanie's skin. Physically she was a total mess and the pain that she must have been in for at least the last twenty four hours must have been unbearable but she was still alive and right now that was all that mattered. It took a couple of minutes but eventually Stephanie was free and Paul scooped her up in his arms. "We're getting out of here now baby. No one's ever going to hurt you again, especially not Nikki because they got that bitch. They arrested her last night and she's going to pay for doing this to you. There's an ambulance outside and they're going to take good care of you and I'm not leaving your side, ever. You hear me baby?"

Stephanie was using what little energy she had remaining to cling tightly to him as he carried her up the stairs to get out of the hideous basement. "Paul," she managed to mumble again. "Yeah, it's me baby. I've got you." Tears were making an attempt to escape from Paul's own eyes as he carried his wife out of the apartment and into the sunlight. The multitude of cuts on her body looked even worse and even more painful in reality than they had on the photo that Nikki had sent. This was torture of the worst kind. He looked down at Stephanie as she closed her eyes tightly against the bright sunlight, such a contrast from the gloomy basement. There was no doubt in his mind that the torture Stephanie had been put through by Nikki had undone all of the progress that they had made with her mental health over the past year and it was likely that she would be worse than ever but again it did not matter right now because she was alive. With his love and support she could recover from this, she had done it before and she would do it again because she was strong.

"Lay her out in the back," One of the male paramedics ordered unnecessarily as Paul approached the ambulance. "We'll take good care of her."

"You hear that baby?" Paul asked as he climbed into the ambulance and lowered his wife onto the waiting stretcher. "We're all going to take care of you. It's all going to be okay."

"Paul," Stephanie mumbled once more. Paul leaned over and delivered a soft kiss to his wife's dry and chapped lips. "I love you Steph, you're safe now baby. It's all over."

END


	15. Chapter 15 - Epilogue

_**EPILOGUE**_

Fifty six year old Nikki Bella walked out of a doorway which was itself part of a much larger gateway into the cold air of a winter morning with a deep sigh of relief. Behind her lay the sprawl of the prison which had been her home for the last twenty four years. Twenty four years of a thirty year sentence she had been made to serve before being released moments earlier. The fact that she had undergone all of the required sessions to treat her mental health issues and had never, not even once failed to take her prescribed meds combined with her good behaviour throughout her sentence had at least given her six years of her life back. There was satisfaction at finally being released but also sadness as although she was back on the outside she had no family to collect her and drive her home because they had all passed away during her time in jail. Both of her parents had died of old age many years before and then Brie had been taken three years ago by cancer.

The prison rules had allowed her to attend the funerals but standing there at a funeral in handcuffs had not felt right, and had made the pain of losing her family members even worse. All three of her family members had been buried side by side near to where Nikki and Brie had grown up in Arizona and that was where she now planned to head as soon as possible. She needed the opportunity to say goodbye to those she loved in a dignified manner before attempting to move on and build some kind of life for herself. The one very tiny silver lining was that her parents had left their house and some money to Brie and then Brie had in turn left it to her. After letting out another, smaller sigh, this one born from sadness as she thought about those who had departed, she got into the waiting cab which had been called to take her to the airport.

* * *

By the time Nikki had reached her new home the previous evening it had been dark and she had been exhausted from travelling, therefore it was not until morning that she headed out in another cab to the graveyard to say her goodbyes once more to her parents and her twin sister, properly this time, and to lay flowers on their graves. When she arrived at the graveyard and exited the cab the cold, gusting wind bit into her, making her feel glad that she had remembered to put on a hat, a scarf and a pair of gloves.

Tears filled her eyes as she approached the three adjacent burial plots with one large headstone dominating them. On it were the names of her parents and Brie, along with the dates of their deaths. Memories came to Nikki of each time that she had been summoned to the prison governors office and informed of the passing of one of the dearest people in her life. The news of Brie's death had been the worst although it was the one that she had known was coming. Before her cancer had gotten too bad Brie had visited Nikki regularly and the two had made peace over Brie's supposed betrayal by trying to talk Nikki into turning herself in and bringing Stephanie with her. The combination of Nikki's treatment and their frequent conversations had gradually saved and then rebuilt their sisterly relationship. The last time that Brie had visited she had looked gaunt and pale and had been wearing a hat to hide her baldness from the chemotherapy. There had been tears from both women when Brie had announced that it was going to be the final time that she would be well enough to visit and despite the fact that it was against visiting rules and had gotten Nikki into trouble they had shared a tight embrace and whispered their goodbyes and I love yous into each other's ears. For days afterwards Nikki had done nothing but sit in the corner of her cell and cry and this had been repeated weeks later after she had returned from attending her sister's funeral service. Following Brie's death no one aside from Nikki's lawyer had visited her during the rest of her sentence. Her combined greed and mental illness had ultimately cost her everything; time with her dying parents and her dying sister as well as her freedom. Even her dreams and ambitions had gone up in smoke. It was going to be an uphill struggle to start her life over at fifty six but that was the reality that she had no choice but to meet head on.

Nikki placed the flowers that she had brought with her into the receptacle on the headstone and spent a few minutes saying some private words to each of the three people who she missed so badly, her hair blowing wildly in the strong gusts of almost freezing cold wind. Lost in her thoughts she paid little attention to the fact that someone else was walking along the pathway towards her, after all what was strange about another mourner walking in a graveyard? When the person was close by Nikki glanced almost absently around and saw a young woman with long dark hair who was equally well insulated against the cold. She greeted this stranger with a hint of a smile before turning back to face the graves in front of her.

"Cold today huh?" The stranger asked as she reached Nikki and stopped walking, standing beside her.

"It is," Nikki agreed, not really welcoming the intrusion but deciding to be polite. "You've recently lost someone?" She asked, unsure of any other way to handle the rather awkward situation that the stranger had put them both in by starting a conversation. "Yeah," the stranger confirmed sadly. "My Granddad, God bless him."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm saying goodbye to my parents and my sister. It's complicated."

"That's a real shame, I'm sorry," the stranger said compassionately. "Both of my parents are still alive thankfully."

It seemed that the stranger was not going to leave so Nikki decided to make the best of the situation and introduce herself. Once more she turned to look at the young woman and offered a smile. "Nikki Bella." The young woman nodded, a strange kind of nod that seemed to indicate that she already knew who Nikki was. "Luisa Levesque."

Nikki's blood ran cold and her eyes widened as she instinctively took a step backwards, away from the younger woman. This was Paul and Stephanie's youngest daughter. She could feel her heart beginning to pound but Luisa did not reveal any sign of aggression towards her. "Relax Nikki. If I was here to hurt you I would have done it by now and in any case I'm a police officer."

"What do you want?" Nikki stammered in fear despite the assurance. "And how did you find me?"

"I just told you I'm a police officer, how do you think I found you? As for what I want, I want to tell you in person that you didn't beat my mom you sick little bitch. My mom beat you."

"What do you mean?" Nikki asked hesitantly.

"You think I haven't seen the scars on mom's body? You think I didn't hear her screams when she would wake up in the night scared to death by the night terrors that plagued her for years when I was a kid? Night terrors of you and that basement. You think I didn't hear her begging my dad to help her and make it stop? I might have been a young child but do you think I don't know why I'd sometimes catch my dad alone crying? I knew exactly why he was crying even though he always denied that he was doing it. You didn't have the guts to kill mom so you tried to do what for you was the next best thing; you tried to break her mentally and take her away from my dad and us kids that way instead. You tried to tear our family apart. Well, you failed. You failed because my mom and dad are both strong, strong people. Stronger than you'll ever be that's for sure. Mom went to therapy and kept going until she eventually overcame everything that you did to her. My sisters have told me that for the first couple of years of my life she wasn't really there as a parent at all as they remember it and that's because she was simply too ill but eventually she got better and she was, is, a truly amazing mother to all of us."

"I was sick Luisa, I was ill," Nikki mumbled.

"Mom told me you would say that and she also said to tell you that mental illness is not a way to justify the unspeakably cruel things you've done to others, not even in your own head. She knows that after what happened with John Cena but what mom did to him is nothing compared to what you did to her. I've heard the whole story, how you tried to break up mom and dad's marriage but that would never happen because my dad is the best dad and the best husband in the world. It was my dad who ruined your sick little scheme to deliberately keep my mom sick even though you knew she needed help and use her illness as a way to take over WWE yourself. Dad ruined it all by never giving up on mom and I'm so, so proud of him for that."

Nikki had taken in everything that Luisa had said. The younger woman's voice had faltered with emotion as she talked about being proud of her father. Nikki just stood there looking down at her shoes for a moment before mumbling, "You said you recently lost your Granddad. You meant Vince? Vince is dead?"

"He is," Luisa confirmed sadly. "Three months ago now. That's right, he lived into his nineties. If you're hoping that I'm going to say that he was never the same after you ran away forget it. Granddad was glad that you revealed your true colors and that you ended up in prison where you belonged. If you had gotten your hands on his, our, family business the way you tried to he would never have been able to live with himself when the truth came out, and it would have. At one time he blamed himself for what you did to mom but eventually she talked him around. Granddad died a happy man in his hospital bed with all of his family around him."

"Why did you come here?" Nikki asked after another pause as she shifted her feet awkwardly.

"To tell you what I've just told you and to make sure that you know that the only person who came out of what you did unhappy in the long run was you and I'm sure you're still unhappy. You deserve every moment of unhappiness that you go through because you brought it on yourself. There's one more thing. Look at me. Look me in the eye."

It took a long moment for Nikki to summon the courage to look the younger woman in the eye as she had demanded but eventually she managed it. Luisa spoke calmly but her piercing blue eyes conveyed how serious she was about what she said next. "If you ever come within sight of my mom or anyone else in my family I'll kill you. That's a promise. Understood?"

Nikki managed a slight nod of acknowledgement and with it Luisa turned and began to walk away but she was stopped by Nikki unexpectedly calling her name. "What?" She demanded as she turned back to face the older woman.

"Tell Stephanie and Paul that I'm sorry, for everything." With those words, words that she had never expected to have the opportunity to say, Nikki lifted a huge weight from her own shoulders.

Luisa considered the words for a second before giving a slight nod of acknowledgement, "I'll do that."

As the younger woman walked away Nikki turned back to face the graves in front of her, now with tears pouring down her cheeks. "You were right Brie, I did need to say that. I love you. I love you all." With that she also walked slowly away, alone.


End file.
